


Fate Versus Determination

by EpicFail236



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Druids, Gen, Multi, Other, Technology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:22:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 61,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25731307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EpicFail236/pseuds/EpicFail236
Summary: Why is it, I wonder sometimes, that it took this long for it to happen? Was it because of you? Was I supposed to help you? To teach you something? No, no I think it was you that was supposed to teach me something. Fortunately for both of us, you did. (Set post True Pacifist Ending, post Chamber of Secrets.)
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Frisk/Monster Kid (Undertale), Sans/Toriel (Undertale)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	1. Falling--Running

Disclaimers:

Undertale and all associated characters are owned by Toby Fox

Harry Potter and all associated characters are owned by JK Rowling

This sandwich, and all associated condiments are owned by me, and you can't have any.

Assume spoilers for everything, by the way.

Now off we go!

-oo00**00oo-

Harry James Potter was falling.

At least, that's what he assumed was going on at this point, between everything tumbling in seemingly slow motion and the spinning of his own thoughts at a significantly faster rate, he was beginning to become unsure of what exactly was happening. That though, for some reason, seemed to disturb him, so he stretched his mind, trying to recall what brought him to this seemingly endless sense of falling slowly through darkness. Slowly, as if from a greater distance than his neurons could possibly be located, the memories stretch themselves into being.

Harry James Potter was pushed.

Specifically, he was pushed into a large chasm by a somewhat large whale of a man known as Vernon Dursley. He remembered the man's demeanor more than his appearance at this particular moment, dour and angry, with a perpetual air of false nobility, at least when around the 'boy' as he referenced Harry. Harry, of course, knew that this specific behavior was reserved specifically for him, as he was an almost loving husband and father to the other relatives that Harry would often take cook and clean for. Ah! There's another memory, this time a bit more detailed; Petunia Dursley, who he recalled was sister to his long deceased mother (and isn't that a depressing thought to have come up again as though it was new). He recalled her somewhat pinched expression turned up into a vicious smile as he felt himself tumble again over the edge of this great chasm he was falling into... where was it that he was anyways?

It was difficult to recall, though this time less because of his oddly elongated memory, and more because he was never told exactly where he was going. He remembered one morning waking up in a bedroom (Dudley's second bedroom to be precise - and there's the name of the smaller whale) only a week or two after returning from his second year of boarding school... where? He couldn't quite remember, as if it was there on the tip of his tongue... well it should come back later most likely. Anyway, he remembered having his corpulent uncle throw open his door one morning, toss him a threadbare pack which was obviously secondhand, if not third hand, and told him to collect his clothes before making breakfast as they would be going on a trip. Having learned early in his life that questions that may not necessarily seem to be (or actually are) impertinent often are best not to be asked by one rather disliked nephew, he simply nodded his acknowledgement, threw the few clothes he had with him (he didn't have much in the room at the time because... something about a trunk, and it being locked away. Goodness but regaining your memory slowly like this was taxing on a train of thought). From there, the morning proceeded with a familiar routine, with Harry making breakfast and doing a few morning chores while the Dursleys ate. Once that was done, Harry was roughly grabbed by the arm and led directly and swiftly to the vehicle, his meager rucksack thrown onto his lap, and was told to keep quiet.

The space in between that moment and the next in his mind was a bit of a blur, though Harry wasn't sure if that was because he was still recalling things, or if the ride was just boring. He vaguely recalled images of traveling to some sort of mountain, and then a long climb. What he did remember was the flushed faces of both the whale Dursleys as they struggled to climb on up the, admittedly not very steep, pathway to wherever their destination was.

Their destination, it seemed, was a chasm at nearly the peak of the mountain. Harry felt upon recollecting this that just seeing a large hole in the ground at the top of a mountain was an odd thing to take this kind of a journey for. This, he found on further thought, was the same thing his past self thought as he struggled through one of the heavier rucksacks Vernon had laid down for some water bottles for the struggling elder man, only to find that the rucksack didn't contain camping supplies, instead it seemed to contain pieces of wood, chopped up and stuffed in between various sundries... things that actually belonged to him. These were items from... the trunk? The trunk they had locked up for some... reason? His memory was still a bit fuzzy it seemed, though a moment later he understood why, as he recalled what happened immediately after he saw the items in that travel bag, the ringing in his ears from a blow to the head, the few kicks to the stomach and ribs, not enough to seriously harm, but enough to keep him down, and then the look in Vernon Dursley's eyes as he rolled Harry over onto his back, nearly off the edge of the cliff. And he remembered the words he spoke, from a great distance through his still ringing ears.

"Let's see you or your friends get you out of this one, freak."

Upon recalling that final word, several things happened in immediate succession. First, Harry Potter, student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, recalled precisely what a Wizard's school was, and along with that, most of the rest of his memories as well. Second, Harry realized that given the rather dangerous nature of the last several moments, that his reaction to the next several moments would probably be his last reactions ever. Thirdly, the rest of the world seemed to believe that that moment was the perfect time to return everything to its normal operating speed, and Harry's stomach dropped as he accelerated downwards through the darkness.

With his full faculties more or less under his control, for all the good most of them did for him at this juncture, Harry quickly tried to take stock of his situation. Looking up as well as he could, he could see the quickly shrinking light of the chasm above him, along with a spinning ball of flame that seemed to be tumbling down with him, though much higher up. Rotten relatives must have lit his things on fire before kicking them down the chasm as well, he thought to himself. It really didn't matter much, though, as anything that would have been in that bag appeared at a simple glance to be nearly completely destroyed anyway, including what may or may not have been his wand, it was difficult to tell with that quick of a glance. That meant no magic, not that a second year student would know how to save themselves in this particular situation.

Looking down, Harry could only see blackness, though a nagging thought in the back of his mind told him he didn't have much longer to fall. In a near panic at that particular thought, he reached out with his mind to think of some way to help himself out of this predicament. For nearly two seconds, he could think of nothing other than whether or not the bloodstain on the ground would have to be cleaned up by someone or not, when he recalled that young witches and wizards rarely ended up splatting from falls... they fell because of... what was that phrase Hermione used... accidental magic! That was it, Harry thought, the concept of a persons magic protecting them instinctually when in grave danger! Now if only there was a way to apply that to this particular life or death situation. He started to try to think of a way to trigger something that was entirely instinctual, when a glance downwards to the now slowly taking shape ground below seemed to do the job for him. He felt a stirring in his chest and for a moment he felt like he was actually slowing down. He looked downwards, the ground beneath him looked to be covered in grass, save for a small patch of flowers off on one end. Harry thought to himself that those flowers looked rather soft, and would probably make for a nicer landing, but fate, it would seem, didn't feel like giving Harry Potter a break.

Suddenly, some distance still from the ground below, he felt his magic suddenly strain, as though pulled taut on a line. Had he been in a different situation, he may have compared it similarly to how his magic felt while he was burning the flesh from the body of Quirinus Quirrell while he was playing host to the shade of Lord Voldemort. However, before he could have any further thoughts on the matter, the taut magic snapped, and Harry Potter had enough time to think to himself 'this may twinge a bit' before plunging down to the ground below. Upon impact, it felt to Harry as if the world exploded. He expected some pain, but really he felt far less pain than he had imagined. It was as if the world was wrapped in cotton wool, everything was as fuzzy as his vision without his glasses (he assumed they had been lost in the fall). He knew he still had to breathe, but taking a breath seemed to happen in slow motion, and the only thing he could hear was the rushing of the blood in his head. For a moment, there was nothing but the green of the grass and a patch of yellow, until seemingly a form appeared from the flowers. In the extra long moment it took Harry to blink, the figure appeared to go from being all the way across the cavern to being nearly on top of him. From his blurry vision and out of the corner of his eye (as he really didn't feel like moving his head from where is lay), he saw a figure in white, wreathed in the yellow from the flowers behind it, and he could have sworn he saw some sort of angel standing before him. Any further observation of the figure would apparently have to wait though, as Harry Potter's brain decided that, at that particular moment in time, a nap would probably be the best option.

-oo00**00oo-

Asriel Dreemurr was running.

To be more precise, Asriel Dreemurr was running very very quickly, which is interesting in this case for several reasons. One reason this is interesting (though certainly not the most important reason) is that running is something Asriel had been making a point to avoid doing in general. In the ten months since what he dubbed in his mind as 'The Frisk Cycle', Asriel had been doing his best to take his time with just about everything, conserving his energy, and using the time to take in as many sights, sounds, and most importantly emotions, as he could. The reasoning behind this zen thought process was a simple one; at any given moment now, he would likely be unable to do much of any of those things, as being an emotionless plant tends to put a damper on things like walking and feeling.

Looking back on it, Asriel was surprised that he was able to go as long as he had been maintaining the status quo. After being throughly beaten by the doppelgänger of one of his oldest and best friends (enemies? frenemies? It was hard to really define what Chara was anymore in his mind upon retrospective), he had expected the remnants of power and Determination to fade away quickly, restoring his form to his current true one ages ago. Not that he was complaining about the extra time in his old body, though. In fact, with what amounted to millennia of experience on his back watching others with bodies and feelings and souls, he felt like he had a particularly good handle on how to spend his days. Though he was mostly isolated (he preferred that word of his restored form didn't make it back to his parents, he felt that he owed them a lack of heartbreak), he made sure to take the time to enjoy as many things as he could. Walking though the nearly completely abandoned Snowdin, dangling his toes in the rivers at waterfall, even something as simple as cooking and eating Snail Pie wasn't lost on him, he soaked in as much as he could.

It wasn't like he was completely alone, either. One or two of the monsters that chose to stay underground (and were capable of keeping a secret) knew he was there, and came to visit the ruins occasionally. Even Sans, who apparently had some inkling into some of Asriel's rather dark past, would swing by whenever he was looking for a break from one of his jobs. Even Frisk took the time to come by regularly for a cup of tea and some conversation, though they more than likely were there just as much to see if he had changed back; Frisk had mentioned their intention to bring Asriel back up to the surface when the transformation was complete, or in their words 'when you don't have the ability to run away,' damn that kind thoughtful jerk. The visits had been a bit less frequent in recent weeks, however, as Frisk's appointed title of Ambassador had truly begun to ramp up apparently. It would be at least six weeks before Frisk, or really anyone currently surface-bound, would be able to make it back down for a visit.

When others weren't around, Asriel certainly wasn't completely idle. He had established a routine over the months. Wake, cook breakfast, tend to the gardens, starting closest to the house and extending to the ruins, up to Chara's grave, which usually took until Lunchtime. After lunch, a few hours spent in a loop around the remaining parts of the underground, making sure things were still working, checking up on Alphys' lab to ensure nothing contained within would accidentally set fire to everything, then dinner, and a wander through the fields, and a book before bed. The whole routine was done at a leisurely pace, with the express intent of ensuring Asriel could take in as much of the process as he could. Having the sword of Damocles over anyone in the way Asriel had it over him would make them want to take extra time to appreciate the smaller things in life, right? So he would spend all his time observing, committing to his memory all the things around him, the sights and smells, the feel of things against his soft fur, and most specifically the emotions he felt. He knew that eventually whatever was maintaining the flow of determination and whatever other soul energy that was keeping him normal was going to run out eventually, and he wanted to make sure that he had every memory of these simple things that he could. They would likely have to last him for a very very long time, after all.

It was in pursuit of these memories that he found himself where he was most days in the late morning, tending to the flowers around Chara's grave. He was nearly finished when he felt, rather than heard, a thud on the floor of the cavern. Looking around in the dim light, the only thing that seemed out of place was a small human like form that seemed to have been lain rag-doll on the ground around fifty meters from where he was kneeling in the flowerbed pulling weeds. Standing, confused for a moment, he looked over at the still form before realizing what had likely happened. He knew from observation that the top of the chasm was quite a ways up, and the eight fallen humans that had come before had only survived because of the magical barrier breaking their fall near the bottom of the dome. With the barrier gone, however...

Asriel felt a deep twinge of sorrow and pain, an empathy for this fallen human, which he promptly committed to memory. This moment of mourning only did last a moment, however, as the situation promptly changed when the body actually made a sound. Months of honing his senses with the purpose of observing as much as possible meant he now picked up far more than your average monster in terms of subtle things, but even he had to stop a moment and keenly observe the body. One moment he waited, then two. Almost imperceptibly, the body moved in the intake of breath, and that was all Asriel needed, standing up and launching forward like a shot, he sprinted towards the fallen body, and took stock of the situation. The human was clearly a child, probably around the same age that his body was, give or take. He was a scrawny boy, though, underfed in a way that would have clearly made his mo-Toriel very upset. His right arm was twisted around in an odd way, and it was clear that his left leg was shattered, but he was surprisingly whole, though he was well aware of the internal damage that can be done in a fall like the one the human had.

Now within arms length of the boy, Asriel looked up from his broken body to his face, and had to suppress a gasp. The boy clearly had glasses which shattered in the impact, glass causing scrapes all along his face, thankfully avoiding his eyes (which were perhaps the most brilliant shade of green he had ever encountered, another thing to commit to memory) to add to what was clearly an old scar in the shape of a lightning bolt upon his forehead. He was still in the process of observing the new human's face when he heard a mumble come out of the human in his general direction. He couldn't quite make it out, so he leaned a bit closer straining to hear, and heard, between the mumbles two words.

"mnh... y... you... nn... angel?"

Asriel blinked, then blinked again. He would have probably done so a third time, only the human beat him to it, his eyes rolling back into his head and his body going limp once more. For a moment Asriel panicked, thinking that the human had indeed died, only to see that he was indeed still breathing, if only shallowly.

Suddenly resolute, Asriel stood turned around, and took off like a bullet for the old Home at a sprint. As he ran, he took stock of what he had. A few bandages and some healing liquids in the house were all he had, but he thought it would be enough to stabilize him, then he could carry him back to the house and get him comfortable while he trekked out into the rest of the underground for what he may need to help this new visitor. Hopefully he would be alive when he returned, Asriel thought to himself as he quickened his pace even more. Despite the gravity of the situation, he couldn't help but smile to himself a bit. Even with his own clock ticking on his current existence, and a nearly dead human behind him, the sight of the ruins and his home in front of him filled him with Determination... and something else, something he couldn't pinpoint at that specific moment, but the one thing he did know about it, though he didn't know why, was that it was going to be something he wouldn't mind spending the last of his time on.

-oo00**00oo-

Cross posting to Ao3 from Fanfiction? Yes it appears I am! Chapters will appear as I get them copied and pasted. There are generally copies of the same work of FFN for now, though I'll probably clear out the notes as that becomes appropriate. Have fun yall!

Some info on this story for those wanting details, this story will be set earlier in the underground (assume canon true pacifist ending), then yes, later at Hogwarts (assume mostly canon through second year). This one will have horcruxes, and may have other things as well, and has a plan in my head at least through Hogwarts fifth year.

Till later, y'all


	2. Dreaming--Searching

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1.

Chapter 2

Dreaming-Searching

-oo00**00oo-

Harry James Potter was dreaming.

Or at least, that was what he thought he was doing, he couldn't be entirely sure. Immediately after his nap by the flowers, he remembered floating in a sort of hazy not-quite-darkness for a time, that same sort of fuzzy cotton wool feeling he had before slowly fading to be replaced by a dull ache, which to him at least, solidified the fact that he was likely not dead. That thought gave him a bit of solace, though it rather didn't last long, as the sense of peace was swiftly replaced by a nagging sensation in the back of his metaphorical head. Now, this nagging sensation was one he had developed over the course of his somewhat eventful life as a sort of warning signal, a sign that he might soon be having a bad time, so he remained on his guard as he waited to see what was going to happen next. The experience was rather surreal for Harry, even considering the circumstances. As he floated through the open space he began to see shapes form as they sped towards him. As they passed by, they seemed to reach out to him, and as they approached, his mind comprehended, somehow, that these were memories. Some seemed innocuous enough, little moments in school, playing wizard's chess with Ron over his first winter at Hogwarts, cooking breakfast for the Dursleys when he was six, and the like. Other memories seemed more disjointed, such as vague recollections of his most early years, hazy images of his mother and father, riding on the back of a large black dog. Other memories that blended in with the mix seemed almost entirely disconnected, vague images of old cliffsides and rooms at Hogwarts he was sure he had never been to, though he rarely could make out anything from those.

Later on when describing the situation to others, he found himself unable to completely describe the feeling of experiencing pieces of his own life as shown through and odd kind of viewscreen, as though he was completely disconnected from them, but at the time, he found the whole thing rather unnerving. For a few moments (or whatever passed for time in wherever he was) Harry did express some concern that he was, in fact, deceased, and this was some odd form of afterlife. What dissuaded him from that occured not long after, when he began to have a new sensation added to the mix. At first it felt like a mild headache, combined with what could almost be described as heartburn, both of which steadily grew, along with a distinct feeling of being stretched. He reeled in pain as his body felt like it was twisting unnaturally, his head going from discomfort to outright pain, and the burning in his chest surging to match. Harry began to panic, clutching his head in his hands, and wishing for a moment that everything would just stop spinning for a moment so he could get his bearings. As if on cue, his heartburn surged for a moment, and suddenly he found himself on solid ground. Or rather that is to say he found himself suddenly going from floating in a void to attempting not to fall as level ground suddenly seemed to appear beneath his feet.

Managing to land on his feet (though barely), Harry stood to look around, and was rather surprised to find himself back at Hogwarts. In fact, he found himself in a place he was, to his shame, well familiar with; a small unused classroom off the main pathways of the school, one that at a certain point and time over a year ago held a certain mirror. This was odd to Harry for several reasons, the first being that it was impossible to be in a place like Hogwarts when he was probably about as far away from Hogwarts as he could currently be at the time, and the second being that a magical artifact that he knew to be no longer at Hogwarts, and indeed most likely destroyed, was sitting in the middle of this room, as if it had never been moved. Harry found himself, almost on reflex, walking around from the back of the mirror to the front of it, hesitant to even look at something that had such power over him in the past, even if it was simply something in his head. His feet, however, did not have the level of hesitancy that his mind did, nor did his hand as he reached up to slowly pull off the sheet that had been covering the mirror to reveal... nothing. The mirror itself was there, of course, but the reflection he saw was simply of the room behind him, with no sign of his own form anywhere to be found. Harry tilted his head, confused; shouldn't there be at least something there? Why would the mirror show an image in which he wouldn't exist?

As if it had heard his thoughts, the mirror gave a throaty, rasping laugh, and the sound immediately filled Harry with a certain dread. There was only one person he knew of that could strike that particular type of fear in his mind, and the idea that he would hear that here of all places struck more of a chord than anything else. As if putting form to his fear, from the edge of the mirror walked a man with a face Harry Potter knew all too well.

"I would think it would be obvious, boy, why the mirror wouldn't show anything. The mirror of Erised shows you your greatest desire, and to me, the strongest desire is for you, Harry Potter, the boy who lived, to simply... not exist." Harry looked up at the mirror Tom Riddle fearfully. This particular version of Riddle looked somewhat similar to the shade of Tom Riddle that Harry had seen and dealt with some weeks ago when it attempted to regain a human form using the life force of Ron's sister Ginny, however this one seemed older, a bit more learned, and with a particularly less sane look in its eyes than the one he had seen.

"What do you want, Tom?" Harry felt a surprising amount of pride in the fact that he kept any fear from his voice. The mirror image however, chuckled at this.

"Now Harry, there is no need for that. I have actually come here with an offer for you. One that I know you have heard before from my counterpart, but, I believe, one you may find more tempting after you hear me out-"

"I don't want to hear what you're selling Tom!" Harry interrupted what looked to be a long and drawn out monologue from the vain man. "I want you out of my head, and as far away from me as possible!" Riddle, clearly unamused, went from smiling to scowling in a heartbeat.

"Well, I had hoped to be able to convince you that there are more intelligent ways of going about this, but since you seem to want to play the eternal Gryffindor, I guess we have no other choice." Before Harry could react, the mirror reflection of Lord Voldemort reached out, his arm passing through the glass of the mirror and wrapped long fingers around Harry's throat, the sudden blockage of his airway causing his eyes to bulge as much in surprise as in pain. Stepping through the mirror, Tom lifted Harry off his feet and looked up at him, his eyes glowing red. "I will have this body as my own, Harry Potter. And with you in your currently weakened state, it is only a matter of time before you succumb to me, and then you will be gone, and only I will remain."

With an almost negligent toss, Riddle threw Harry's body across the room and into the wall, his body impacting against the stone much harder than should have been possible given the situation, Harry thought. He tried to heave himself up to his feet, only to find that his arms wouldn't quite support his weight. His headache had turned into a burning in his scar, and the simple heartburn had turned into a pain in his chest that made it hard to breathe. He barely had time to put up an arm when Tom lashed out with his foot, but he did manage to deflect a kick to the face into what was probably only a broken finger or two. Scrambling backwards and away from a slightly unbalanced foe, Harry used the wall to prop himself back up into a standing position. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he calmed himself a bit and then faced his nemesis standing, determined to put up a fight. As though on cue, the burning in his chest seemed to ease for a moment, before blossoming into a comforting warmth. Emboldened, he turned to face his foe with a scowl.

"You'll have to do better than that, Tom."

Tom Riddle looked surprised for a moment, before the scowl returned. "Well, it seems there is still some fight in you. No matter, all fall before me eventually. For now, why don't you take another run down memory lane." And with a wave of his hand, the shade of Riddle faded, along with the mirror and the rest of the room. Harry found himself floating through the void again, memories rushing towards him.

For some indeterminate period of time, a vicious cycle began to take shape. Harry would float through the sea of memories, each time he was passing through, the memories would become darker, more warped. He would see his friends talking to him happily one trip through, and a later trip would find him standing over their broken and bleeding bodies, knife in hand. Unnamed spectres would pass through his memories and recollections, twisting them from thoughts into nightmares, eldritch horrors instead of histories. At the end of each journey through the void, Harry would return to the room with the mirror, Tom would say a few words, Harry a few more, then they would eventually come to blows, and the whole thing would start over again. Whenever Harry felt like he was becoming tired, or worn, he would feel that warmth bloom in his chest and would renew his fight with newfound strength, but still the cycle would continue. Each time he returned to the room, Tom would seem just a touch more haggard than he was the time before, so Harry knew he was getting somewhere, and somehow, in the back of his mind, he had this feeling, like someone was watching over him, giving him the will to continue.

After what was probably the fifteenth or sixteenth iteration of this pattern (though it felt like it was near the thirtieth), Tom Riddle's mirror reflection didn't even mince words, immediately stepping out of the mirror and throwing Harry across the room, this time with enough force to crack the stone behind him. Harry fell to the ground coughing, tasting the metallic flavor of blood in his mouth. Clearly he was getting to Tom, though he wasn't sure this was the result he wanted.

"Why, boy? Why resist? No matter how much you struggle, you are nothing compared to the great Lord Voldemort! Why keep going when you know you will fail? When you know your mind will eventually fail, and your body will become my new vessel?" he reached down and again picked up Harry by the throat, holding him up on his toes. "Why do you persist in this hopeless madness?" He asked, shaking the boy.

Harry opened his mouth to retort, but paused for a moment, thinking... and then chuckled, the sound being closer to a choking noise given his position. The chuckle grew slowly to a raspy laugh, something that for a moment actually confused Riddle. He lifted his head, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth and spilling over Riddle's wrist. He gave his foe a small smile.

"Because, Tom, I just remembered something. This is my body, and that means," he continued, causing Tom's eyes to widen in surprise, "you and I... are in my head!" And with that, Harry lashed out, shoving Tom away from him towards the mirror again, trapping the shade of his enemy again behind the glass. Tom quickly recovered, and attempted to reach out to strike Harry again, but Harry raised his hand, and he found himself stopped at the edge of the mirror. Clearly blinded now by his rage, he began to strike against the mirror, his punches and kicks causing the glass to crack, only to have the cracks reseal themselves afterwards.

"POTTER! You'll never be rid of me! As long as you live, I will be here! I promise you I will prevail, I will take this body as my own, and you and all your friends will be made to suffer!" on and on the mirror image went, promising great pain and destruction to him and anyone who knew him, but Harry flicked his eyes to the right for a moment, and then just smiled.

"Tom, something tells me," he said, turning away and heading towards the exit of the room. " that I really don't have to worry about you anymore."

And with that, Harry opened the door to the room, and stepped outside, and into a comfortable darkness of a real slumber. He went into sleep with a smile on his face, because he knew the shade of Tom in his head would never be a bother, which was something that he later would realize was rather out of place for the circumstances.

Because he saw who was suddenly behind the mirror image of Riddle him in the mirror.

Because he didn't know why, but somehow he knew that the boy in the striped shirt, with the knife, and a finger to his smiling lips, was more than willing to make sure there wouldn't be any problems with Tom any more.

-oo00**00oo-

Asriel Dreemurr was searching

He had spent a rather ridiculous amount of time over the last several days searching, actually, and not always for the same thing, though it all definitely did revolve around a certain interesting human. After the initial rush to get him out of immediate danger, Asriel hunted down a way to transport his damaged form as carefully as possible, eventually using an old wheelbarrow to get him moved while jostling him as little as possible. Upon getting him into his house and into the bed in the master bedroom, he set to work getting his patient bandaged and as set on the path to healing as possible. Surprisingly, he found this both easier and more difficult than he had expected. Due to the nature of his injuries, many of the healing items he possessed at the time would be effectively useless, as they require things like chewing and being conscious to consume, so he needed to think creatively to both gather and prepare things to help keep his patient healthy. Interestingly enough though, it appeared that the human wouldn't end up needing as much help as he originally anticipated, as within the first few hours after relocating him, many of the worst physical injuries had already healed themselves. For a moment, Asriel was actually confused by this, until he reached out his senses and really observed what was going on, and got the second shock of the day: it seemed that this human, in addition to other power, simply radiated determination. In fact, the levels of power that emanated from his patient were on levels unheard of by most monsters, except for perhaps his parents (and himself, he remembered with only a slight bit of shame). Though this was an odd thing to note at the time, Asriel didn't really think much of the fact short of cataloging it, and instead took some solace in the fact that this basically meant that his recovery was almost a certainty, as long as he could keep ensuring he was well maintained, as it were. With that thought well in mind, Asriel fed his patient a bit more, settled him in bed as well as he could, then quickly left to see what more supplies he could gather.

Wandering through the gate and into the forest around Snowdin, he spared a glance at the glowing save point and noted to himself that it had faded just a bit more from where it was a week ago. He noted it in the back of his mind as he collected various leaves and things to make a potential poultice for the few still showing wounds his patient happened to have. He reflected sadly on the fact that it was likely that those glowing points of concentrated determination would eventually fade entirely, and with them, the entire idea of messing with the timeline by restoring from a save may very well be gone. So far, any research into determination outside of the underground had met with nothing more than confusion, it appeared that, like monsters themselves, magic like the power of Determination and the Soul were essentially unknown to the peoples outside. Frisk, Sans and Toriel all came to the same conclusion when faced with the facts at hand, it was likely that the barrier was keeping the determination, (a natural product of monsters, some humans, and the environment itself in some places,) contained in a concentrated area, allowing the save points to naturally manifest. With the barrier released, that determination was simply dissipating over a broader area, causing some things to naturally fade with the course of time. Asriel sighed as he continued to fill the rest of his pack with a few things from town. Though there were only a handful of people who truly understood what those little points of light represented, for good or for ill, the few who did know looked upon the event with a sort of melancholy dread; those who felt like, in one way or another they had a safety net of sorts, double edged sword it may be. The loss of that safety net meant only one chance was left, and though each one of the 'determined few' knew they wouldn't waste this last chance at a life, there was a certain feeling of foreboding to the new sense of mortality, a worry that there wouldn't be enough time to do what was needed to be done. Honestly though, Asriel thought as he walked back towards home, that sort of problem was one he currently had plenty of experience with.

His musings stopped however as he approached the house, and instead of the solace he usually felt approaching the building, he felt a strong sense of chaos, pain, and fear. This, accompanied with the sounds of a rampage inside saw him break out into a run to get into the house. He made it inside in only a moment, sprinting towards the room where his patient was, but was forced to dive out of the way of the doorway to avoid a flying book. Recovering quickly and leaning into the room, Asriel felt, for the first time in he didn't know how long, a genuine sense of fear. The entire room was a maelstrom of chaos, furniture and knick knacks flying around in a tempest, destroying anything that wasn't already flying about, and at the center of the mess was his patient, thrashing on the bed, breathing in wheezes through clenched teeth and moaning in pain. But perhaps most startling was a nearly visible wave of energy barreling away from him at a nearly constant basis. Asriel could only stand agape at the sight, and certainly couldn't help but feel intimidated. Granted this wasn't the most power he had seen, or even wielded before, but the fact that it was just emanating from the unconscious boy in waves spoke volumes of both the boys power, and the torment he must be going through. After a few more moments avoiding thrown objects from the room, Asriel heard an audible crack and an increase in the groaning; the boy had clearly cracked a tooth from clenching his jaw so hard, and at that he knew he had to act.

Grabbing a Spider Cider, he centered himself for a moment, then barreled around the corner, ducking under flying objects to reach the struggling body on the bed. Opening the bottle, Asriel forced open the jaw of his patient and poured as much of the cider down his throat as he could, alll the while getting pounded by various items still spinning around the room. Though he got almost as much on him as he did in him, the boy clearly took enough of the cider to help, as his breathing actually started to regulate, then slow, and then finally his muscles relaxed. When that happened, the power waned as well, drawing back inside the boy, and the various things around the room slowed their spinning, and eventually fell to the ground as a battered and bruised asriel collapsed against the footboard of the bed trying hard to return his heart rate to normal. As he slowly recovered, he looked to the sleeping form of his new patient turned problem, and said to his sleeping form "You aren't going to make this easy, are you?"

The next few days were spent in a kind of blur for Asriel, as he tended to his patient. The boy would go through cycles, sleeping peacefully for a time, then falling into a struggle, lashing out with what appeared to be some sort of uncontrolled telekinetic magic. When this happened Asriel would feed him some sort of recovery item, causing the chaos to settle, and the boy to fall back into a slumber. In general, it appeared that the boy was improving in health, though it was certainly touch and go when he had his attacks. His estimation of the boy's recovery was also slightly hampered by what happened during the boy's third attack, the first time Asriel had actually been in the room when the attack began.

When the boy initially went from a peaceful sleep to an uneasy one, Asriel happened to be reading one of the books he brought from the Snowdin librarby outside the room, so he was able to be present at the beginning of his attack. Curious as to the source of such rather intense internal strife, Asriel decided the only way to really be sure of exactly what was going on was to reach out to the human's SOUL. And since there was one surefire way to do that, Asriel prepared himself for battle. He figured it would be quick and easy, go in, observe the state of the human, and either assist if possible, or simply retreat if need be, as he couldn't be sure if the soul would react negatively to being observed. Steeling himself, he stepped into the room and began a battle.

And what he saw there terrified him beyond all of his comprehension. The heart of the human looked battered and broken, cracks lining the surface, and a black miasma stuck within it, pulsing and beating as it twisted itself around the heart, a tiny thing, but immensely powerful. The soul was already seemingly engaged in battle, it's heart shape shifting into rainbow hues as it swerved and moved drunkenly around, only to suddenly freeze as the miasma pulsed strongly, and then the heart itself seemed to completely lose control, flinging itself from edge to edge of the battle grid, horrible specters emanating from it, swirling around only to fly back in and strike at the heart over and over again. The soul clearly struggling to remain together despite the terrors around it. Unknowingly and almost unconsciously, Asriel retreated from the battle, screaming loud enough to be heard through the whole ruins, the echoes sounding through the hallways of the ruins, even going as far as the entry cavern, rustling the flowers he had tended for so long. Throwing himself against the back wall of the room as the human began to twitch wildly and moan, Asriel could only stare at the human in shock and an admittedly small amount of fear.

"Who Are You?"

After that, Asriel decided it was best to observe the human and tend to his injuries, but not do anything further. So they days continued to remain a routine, granted one of a different sort, punctuated by moments of panic as he staved off whatever it was that could taint and harm a SOUL like that. Anytime he wasn't spending tending to the human or to the other few things he needed to do to make sure the underground was still safe, he spent searching through any books he could find, trying to see if he could better understand what he saw. Unfortunately, even the great libraries in the castle were unable to help him after a few days of searching, except for some vague references to creatures that could attach themselves to a SOUL, living off it as a parasite would, but the tales were just that, unsubstantiated rumors and folk tales, which in truth paled in comparison to what he saw in that boy. He admitted to himself that he hoped that whoever this human was, he would be capable of fighting off that true monster.

A few days later, it appeared his hopes were answered.

-oo00**00oo-

I remember long ago when I first posted these. It wasn't technically my first fanfiction story, but it was the one that I thought was the best received. I like that as I am going back through this, I get to re-read something that seemed to make others happy as well. Gives me inspiration to continue. Hope y'all enjoy these!

Anyways, reviewed for grammar (mostly) but unbeta'd. Read, review whatevs.

Peace y'all


	3. Interlude: Dumbledore's Lament

Disclaimers: See the first chapter, et cetera.

Chapter 3 - Interlude: Dumbledore's Lament

-oo00**00oo-

In a old castle far removed from Mt Ebott, an aged man was sitting in his office, pensively staring at his desk. The man's office, placed quite securely in the tallest tower of the former medieval provincial hub, was a flurry of activity even in the quietest of times. On the shelves that lined the walls, various gadgets and gizmos ticked and popped and whizzed as they responded in tandem to specific events occurring around the world. Some of these devices were new, items the man had obtained or created in his travels, and yet others were much older, either contributed to the collection by former tower residents or even from the construction of the castle itself.

It was often wondered by people who knew of the tower how exactly the tower residents (who most often were in fact headmasters of the school that now resided in said castle) knew as many things as they did, and the answer would be found among the noise and confusion of the items on the walls. See, each item on the shelves was designed to react to changes in the world around it. For example, a specific whirligig on the third shelf (right side next to the entrance door, second item from the left) would spin clockwise as long as the larders in the castle were at least fifty percent full, and would slow down and then begin to spin in the opposite direction as the food levels dropped below acceptable levels. In that same way, each item on each of the shelves would tell the current headmaster or headmistress something about the school, the country, or even the world in general, as long as they were clever enough to deduce its meaning (and they were instructed, as they could, to contribute to the school, both in terms of adding new items to the shelves, and in documenting their details in the Headmaster's Book of Hogwarts, because being clever is fine and all, but who wants to be clever all the time? Using these instruments, headmasters could seemingly be everywhere at once, and know nearly everything there is to know that is important, all while remaining in their office. It really was, in many ways, the predecessor of the BBC (and it is rumored that some of the most influential in the creation of the BBC were, in fact, keenly aware of the headmasters' shelves).

However, despite all the goings on in the world as told by the devices, the old man known to most as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was only interested at that moment in three specific items from those shelves, all of which he currently had on his desk instead of in their places in the shelves. These three items were several from a number of objects that the headmaster had added to the shelves himself, though these three likely wouldn't last on the shelves much after his tenure, as these three were designed with a single purpose in mind. See, the headmaster created these three devices as a sort of direct monitoring tool for a single individual, namely one Harry James Potter. Each of the three had a specific function, and Dumbledore felt only a small sense of pride in the fact that, by using these three devices, he could at any given point, understand where and in what condition Harry happened to be in at that moment. However, it is a paraphrasing of a well known idiom that clever people who know they are clever can be dangerous, and that particular pride, Albus thought to himself as he took another sip of Brandy, was apparently somewhat misplaced. Closing his eyes tightly for a moment, he returned his thoughts to the possibilities that could be open to this situation.

He was first made aware that there was an issue when the soft ticking from the first device became a high pitched whine as the device, modeled after an old fashioned stock ticker, began to spin faster and faster, the marked lines on the ticker tape fluctuating wildly. He had stepped out of his office for a meeting less than an hour before walking in on this alarm, so he knew the meter (which measured both Harry's health, a requirement considering the circumstances, and his magic, which had always been quite volatile) was notifying him of a recent, and significantly negative, change. This in and of itself was not extremely uncommon, unfortunately. Harry's relatives were, of course, rather hard on the boy. He had discovered this the hard way several years ago, when Arabella Figg had called him over in a panic to find that the boy, who was then six years old, had been beaten nearly to death and thrown out into the cold. After a furious interlude with the Dursleys, he had come to find out that they had simply felt this was an appropriate punishment for what they designated 'freakishness', and it wasn't the first time they had used said punishment. Albus was beside himself with rage; the boy had merely summoned extra food at the table in a bout of accidental magic, which wasn't surprising considering they underfed the boy as it was. After cooling off outside for several minutes, Albus was forced to make a rather difficult decision. He couldn't pull Harry from the house itself, as he was far too protected there and he had committed to ensuring the boy grew up fully into his potential, however there was no way he could simply leave him in this state, with the potential for further abuse. After a few minutes considering his options, he decided that there was only one way to proceed. First he re-entered the house and performed something he had sworn he would never do unless absolutely necessary; he placed a personality altering change on the mind of Vernon and Petunia Dursley. He had to make it subtle, lest it interfere with their lives, so he simply had them merely internalize some of their fear and hatred of Harry, and all magic users, instead of taking it all out directly on the child. This way, though their distain would still be clear, and the boy unfortunately might still suffer some abuse and neglect, there wouldn't be enough hatred to cause either to cause this sort of harm to the boy. Then, he returned Harry to the home, appropriately modified everyone's memories, and left before he became too sympathetic to want to do more.

It was at this point that he created the health monitoring device to ensure he would know in time, just in case something happened to the boy, like it was at that particular moment. When he saw the strong reaction from the device, and how the boy's health appeared to be failing rapidly, he immediately hastened to the astronomy tower and quickly apparated to the Dursley home to prevent another potential disaster, only to find the home was empty. Quickly returning to his office while cursing this particular lack of foresight, he went to the shelves to pull out the second device. This one was created actually before the health ticker, when one of Arabella's kneazles apparently a started four year old Harry enough that he accidentally apparated half way across Little Whinging. After locating him and appropriately wiping his memory, he created this one just in case he needed to track the boy further, after all any four year old with the power to accidentally apparate several miles will likely eventually be able to go much farther, so this device was attuned to Harry's blood, and always pointed him to wherever Harry would be at any given moment. Except for this moment apparently, as the device was completely deactivated. This panicked the headmaster for a moment, as the most likely reason for this device to fail was that Harry was dead, however the audible sounds coming from the health ticker clearly make this incorrect.

While wondering how that particular combination could be possible, he reached down to the back of the shelf for his third, and oldest Harry monitoring device - a specially modified foe glass designed to act as though Harry was always the one holding the glass, regardless of who was holding it at the time. This one actually had been put into use in the weeks and months immediately after Voldemort's disappearance, it's ability to detect whenever someone with ill intentions towards Harry approaching Privet Drive meant many Death Eaters were secretly captured before they could harm anyone else. In more recent years, the globe had faded to a dull silver as there were fewer threats from magical society on Harry's life, however now, the globe was telling a different story. A storm seemed to rage within the confines of the glass, dark clouds swirling around flashes of light and color, casting shadows and light around the room as Albus looked into it, searching for some sort of information, however other than the light show, nothing was forthcoming. It appeared that something was happening, but the globe couldn't make heads or tails of what precisely the threat was, if anything, much to Albus' consternation.

Over the coming days and weeks, Albus would spend every spare moment trying to track down what happened to Harry. The Dursleys were, rather surprisingly, of little help. Between a physical confrontation, and Albus's surreptitious searching of their memories, it became apparent that the personality modifications had some unforeseen consequences. Apparently the repressed hatred of the boy had been gathering for so long, that the family had left that morning with the intent of actually killing Harry... somehow. What was odd was that anything beyond that was completely incomprehensible to the headmaster. The Dursleys had no memory left in their minds of what they were planning to do to Harry, and that entire day in their minds had been effectively fogged over in mist, a potential sign of magical modification perhaps, but not one that he had ever seen before. Could it be that Harry had performed some unknown form of accidental magic again? Had someone or something else interfered? Under any circumstances, Albus left the family with some choice angry words, noting that it was unlikely they would see Harry or any other magic users again - as the wards around the home had clearly collapsed under the level of hatred the muggles had for Harry meant the Dursley home was unsuitable anymore anyways.

After a few more days of fruitless searching and theorizing, Albus returned to his office to find the items had changed somewhat. The storms in the foe glass had settled, and the dark clouds were gone, replaced by the same silver mist as before, though it was now tinted with colors, gently cycling through a rainbow of hues as a slow pace. Even the health meter had stopped it's warning tones, instead shifting to the gentle scratching that indicated that Harry was still... damaged, for lack of a better word, but healing. The location sensor was still completely defunct however, which is what led to Albus pouring himself a dram of brandy and pondering the devices on his desk.

With all that said, the logical conclusion to be made from the three devices before him was that Harry was... somewhere where the headmaster would be unable to locate him, and he was harmed greatly at some point in the last several weeks, but is recovering, and is not in any significant danger currently, except possibly from his own wildly fluctuating magic. In addition, when he was eventually recovered from wherever he was, the collapsed wards on the Dursley home combined with... whatever happened to them meant that he couldn't return to that house anymore (not that, after finding out what happened, he would even seriously consider returning him there).

So a seriously injured, extremely powerful, barely trained wizard lost who knows where with no home to speak of. Add to this Sirius Black's recent departure from Azkaban...

With a sad sigh, the headmaster stood and walked over to the perch to the side of his desk, and ran his fingers through the plumage if his familiar, Fawkes the Phoenix. Looking into the firebird's eyes, he began to muse, as much to himself as to the bird.

"I worry more and more now, my friend. We started on this path long ago with Harry, confident that this was the best way, but I wonder now if it will be too much on the boy. The last thing I want is to see him suffer, and now this?" he blinked away tears from his eyes "Are you still as certain as I used to be, Fawkes? Is this truly the path the boy must tread? Can we not spare him anything more?"

Fawkes dipped his head slightly and began to sing. It is well known that the songs of a phoenix cause great emotion to those who hear them, but what is less known is that, to those who have bonded to said great birds, that the emotions become something more in the hearing, they become stories. Phoenixes, you see, perceive time and fate differently than most other sapient life. Whereas people can only observe and predict, phoenixes can hear the very song of fate as it is being sung, and though they cannot see the future in a way that can be directly perceived, they do understand how actions can effect the great harmony that is the lives of everyone. Fawkes knew that Harry Potter was a key instrument, granted a gift to play as a soloist in the great orchestra that is the world, however Fawkes knew for that solo to truly be a part of the music, it must be tempered and trained. The boy would suffer, yes, and he would feel pain. But from it, he would weave a beautiful new layer onto the world's song, one that would leave echoes far beyond what most were possibly capable of.

Unfortunately, though it is easy for a phoenix to understand this, to understand the means to an end that comes from the tempering, for mortals who are so focused on only a small portion of their pieces in the song (as they should be), it is much more difficult to accept. Fawkes tried to put this concept into his song in a way he hoped his bonded familiar would understand, and he felt that he managed to get the point across as the headmaster nodded resolutely and wiped his eyes.

"Very well, my dear friend. I trust you, as I always have, to know things that I do not and can not." He walked quickly back to his desk and drained the final bit of brandy from his small glass and gathered his things. "But now, far more pressing matters are at hand, and politics waits for no man. Watch over things here, my friend. I shall return shortly." And with that, Albus walked to the door of his office and stepped out and onto the stairs out to the castle proper, feeling a bit better knowing that, though some of his choices weighed heavily on his heart, he was truly heading in the right direction.

All the while, the headmaster failed to notice something else on the shelves, where a small gyroscope that had been spinning for decades (fourth case left of the entrance door, bottom shelf, third item from the right) had come to rest entirely, lying on its side on a simple pedestal with a silver heart engraved on its side. Fawkes, turned his head to look at it, and warbled happily, knowing that things were set into motion and that finally his bonded familiar would be able to see the culmination of their hopes and dreams. He had considered letting Albus in on this particular secret as soon as he noticed the fallen object some time ago, but had decided to hold off unless necessary, there was no reason for the headmaster to be placed into a position to influence the change in the song at this time. And anyways, an immortal bird still needs to have some fun, don't they?

-oo00**00oo-

An interlude chapter, to see what was going on elsewhere. Next chapter, Harry awakens in an unfamiliar place, and finds an unfamiliar caretaker. Asriel finds the job of caretaker to be a challenging one, for himself more than for his ward.


	4. Waking--Speaking

Disclaimers: see chapter one

-oo00**00oo-

The first time Harry woke, he found himself more or less unable to move, staring up at a ceiling that was unfamiliar to him. Unable to do much short of stare and think, he took some time to consider his position and surroundings. First, he was clearly not dead, and from the ache he was feeling in, well, his everything, he was clearly heading in the opposite direction from dying, which was in general a positive turn of events. Trying gingerly to wiggle his fingers and toes, he found, though at the cost of a bit of pain, that everything seemed to be present and accounted for, though he wouldn't be able to assess the condition of his body probably until he was healed a bit more. feeling under him, he could tell from the soft bed, one much softer than the typical hospital beds he tended to wake up on he thought to himself, that he was likely in someone's personal bed, a thought that made him both grateful and a bit nervous if he was honest with himself. Taking as deep a breath as his aching ribs would let him take, he could clearly confirm that he was likely in someone's home; in fact the home of someone who was likely a fairly decent cook if the smell was anything to go by.

That particularly mouth watering thought also made him quite aware of certain other needs that needed to be filled soon, as his dry mouth complained quite candidly about his lack of hydration. Momentarily distracted, Harry turned his head slightly to look around and see if he could see anything to drink near him, only to cry out in pain as everything in his body seemed to complain all at once about the movement. Breathing slowly in an effort to control the pain, Harry only vaguely understood that his noises had attracted the attention of who he only could assume was his caretaker, as he sensed more than heard that someone had entered the room. Unable at this point to properly communicate, Harry tried hard as he was able to let whoever it was there know that he needed water. Apparently he was at least partially successful, as not more than a moment or two later, his head was gently lifted (still a bit painful) and a small glass of water was slowly tipped into his mouth.

After drinking his fill, whoever had been helping him laid his head back down, and Harry found himself quickly falling asleep again. Trying his hardest in his hazy state to thank his caretaker, Harry found a small hand on his shoulder, gently offering encouragement, and a voice (that Harry would consider later on didn't sound much older than he was) calmed him saying to him as he faded into sleep again

"It's okay. Just rest for now. Things are going to be alright."

-oo00**00oo-

It had been two days since what he referred to himself as 'the calm' had started, and about six hours after his patient's first awakening, that Asriel noticed the signs of him stirring again. Setting down the book he had been reading (one of the few recovered from the pack that fell with his patient; though all of them were damaged, some had at least been partially readable, and had been interesting to say the least) Asriel stood and walked over to the boy, as he groaned slightly, his eyes slowly opening. He looked down at the boy with some concern, though he was healing much faster than he would have anticipated, he still clearly was going to be healing for a time, and that wasn't even considering... Asriel shook his head, now wasn't the time to think about whatever that was. Take care of the patient's immediate needs first was what the book he found said, so that's what he was going to do. Slowly approaching the human, as not to startle him, Asriel placed his head into his view.

"Hello? You seem to be more awake than before. How are you feeling?"

The boy inhaled sharply, his eyes focusing not quite on Asriel's face and opened his mouth to speak, his voice raspy from disuse.

"ww...wwwater..." Asriel smiled at him, he was clearly on the mend if he could use whole words now. He reached down to the bedside table and grabbed the glass of water, holding it up.

"I can do that. Have some here for you, but you can't drink it lying down like that. Think you can sit up a bit yet? I can help if..." Asriel halted in shock as the boy actually sort of sat up a bit in the bed, even if he did it with a bit of a grimace, and half held out his hand for the water. Asriel, eyebrows raised, handed him the half full glass, which the boy took with only a slight tremor in his hand and brought it to his mouth to drink. He coughed a bit, clearly drinking a bit more quickly than he should have, and Asriel reached out to steady the boy until he recovered. Mumbling a thanks, the boy continued to drink the water, a bit slower this time. The silence between them stretched for a few moments until Asriel, surprisingly uncomfortable with silence after so long, cleared his throat. "So, I guess you may be a bit confused, what with falling down here and all. Honestly, I'm surprised you were alive at all.." Asriel froze after saying that "um... I'm sorry, that was rude. I mean, I shouldn't actually say that to you, not that you weren't in danger of dying, because i think you were for a while there- ugh. No, I mean..." Asriel sighed, looking up at the boy, who had finished his water and was just looking at him curiously. "This is not how you're supposed to start a conversation, sorry. How about I start that over. Howdy, I'm Asriel. I found you when you fell, and have been looking after you while you were recovering." He said with a smile that was probably a bit too forced. The other boy blinked, then smiled a bit.

"Hi. I'm Harry, I... fell down a hole, and I guess I have you to thank for finding me." the boy - Harry's - voice was still a bit raspy, but it was clear he had some strength behind it, which was a good thing considering. Asriel's smile became a bit less forced and a bit more genuine.

"Well hello there, Harry. Sorry about the state of things in this room here, haven't had much of a chance to clean up." he noticed the boy grimaced a bit. "What?"

The boy looked down. "Um... I can't really see much without my glasses. Did you happen to see them when... uh.." Asriel's eyes widened. Of course the boy would have eyesight problems.

"Oh. right. Well, unfortunately those glasses were broken when you fell. Scratched up your face pretty badly actually, but everything seems to be healing up just fine. As to glasses... Oh!" Asriel stood up as he remembered. "M... the last person who lived here before I did wore glasses occasionally. I don't know if they'll work for you, but it's worth a try." He walked to the doorway saying over his shoulder "don't go anywhere or anything"

-oo00**00oo-

Harry snickered at his caretakers' attempt at a joke. Whoever he was, he was certainly friendly enough at the very least. Harry had, after spending a non-trivial amount of time in the care of various physicians, come to develop both a certain distrust and a certain respect for them. This was only amplified by the facts that a) this person helping him (and doing a good job as it seemed, given that he was well on the road to recovery) was not a physician, and b) this person, at least from the sound of him, was clearly not much older than he was. Still, gift horse and all that, he thought to himself. He decided while Asriel was hopefully finding something to help him see, he would stretch a bit and test his healing.

First came the easy parts, he thought as he stretched his neck and shoulders, rolling them around. He felt the popping of bones and knew he would need to work a few kinks out of his muscles when he got up, but at the very least he was able to move about. Working his thought process down to his arms and hands, he reached up and around wearily but easily enough, and was able to slide himself into a bit more of a sitting position. Now came the slightly more difficult part, as he turned his body around the edge of the bed. Letting his feet dangle off the edge he lifted his right leg and stretched it out. The muscles twitched a bit under the strain, but he felt like he could certainly put his weight on it if need be. Raising his left leg was another story, however; as he lifted it, he felt a sharp pain run all the way up his leg, causing him to huff a bit in pain. Reaching down and feeling around, he could feel the muscles spasm in strain as the leg shook as he tried to keep it up. Gritting his teeth, he pushed to try and extend it the rest of the way, and nearly got all the way out before the pain made it too uncomfortable and he had to put it down with a sigh.

"It was nearly completely shattered, you know?" Came that voice from the doorway again. Harry looked up to see the blur that was Asriel walking into the room.

"It feels like it might have been," Harry replied with a grimace. "Do you think it will..."

"I have to think it will. It has been healing, just a lot slower than the rest of you. It may be another day or two before you can stand on it, and I don't know how long until you can walk... But at least it seems to be improving some." He walked over and handed him something. "Sorry, they may be a bit on the feminine side, and are probably way too big, but hopefully they'll be able to let you see a bit better."

Harry just smiled back at Asriel, and lifted the glasses to his face.

-oo00**00oo-

Harry took the glasses from Asriel's outstretched hand tentatively with a smile. Though he couldn't quite see them, he didn't think they looked or felt that odd at all, so he slid them on, hoping the prescription was close enough to his own that he would at least not have to be led around to find the facilities. Upon donning the eyewear, a few things passed through his mind.

First, by some miracle it seemed that the glasses were nearly perfect for his eyes (and face, the fit was better than his old ones) and he was able to see more clearly than he had in ages.

Second, Asriel appeared to be as shocked as he was by this, given the expression on his face.

Thirdly, Asriel... well, wasn't a person.

Harry would note, in retrospect, that it would have been amusing to an outside observer, looking to them both there stammering and staring at each other like idiots. At the time, though, Harry truly felt that he had gone completely around the bend, which wouldn't have been an odd thing considering the circumstances.

"Puh.. how did-"

"Wh-who are-"

"With the glasses, and-"

The two of them continued like that for a few moments, until Asriel put a stop to it holding up his hand, the other one holding pinching the bridge of his nose... snout... whatever is appropriate for the situation, clearly staving off a headache.

"Okay," he said to Harry after a moment. "I think we need to step back for a moment. First, let's get through the obvious. Yes, I am not a human. I can explain in detail later, but the short version is I am a monster, part of a group of monsters who were trapped underground quite a long time ago, but have just recently been freed from our improper imprisonment." he pierced Harry with a hard gaze. "I hope this won't be an issue."

Harry immediately shook his head vehemently, wincing a bit as the action irritated still recovering muscles. "Not at all, I was just surprised is all. Honestly, I've seen things that would seem crazier at first glance." he answered with a bit of a rueful grin.

Asriel actually seemed taken aback for a moment by the forcefulness of his response, then smiled a bit, tension that was clearly in his body easing. "Well," he replied, "that's excellent then. You'll have to tell me what would be crazier than a human falling into a cave with monsters in it, by the way. But first of all, since your first question is answered, how about mine: how did you do that with the glasses?"

Harry, puzzled, tilted his head to the side, his hand unconsciously reaching for the eyewear. "Why? What's wrong with them?". Running his hands over the glasses he didn't seem to feel anything odd about them, which given the description Asriel gave of them did give him pause. Asriel shook his head in disbelief.

"You mean you didn't do that on purpose? Those glasses were far larger when I handed them to you, and the frames were completely different. Your magic changed them, I had assumed on purpose."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise, hand feeling his glasses. He had to admit, he thought the felt a lot like his old glasses, even if they were more effective than his old pair. "Im... not sure. I didn't think i could do that at all. I don't think I'm supposed to be able to do it." Harry furrowed his brow in thought. "I know accidental magic can cause things like that, but that's not supposed to happen after you get-" Harry froze for a moment, a sudden realization dawning on him. He immediately grabbed onto Asriel's arm. "My Wand! Asriel! Did any of my things make it?!" He began to panic, and as though in response to his mental state, the objects around the room again began to rattle. Immediately, Asriel leaned over and grabbed him by the shoulders firmly

"Harry! Harry, you need to calm down. Breathe!" Harry locked eyes with his caretaker, his mental state slowly clearing as he focused on the person in front of him. For a few moments, his heart rate slowed back to normal, and he tried to bring his breathing back to a more sedate pace. A soft thud snapped them both out of the moment as the empty water glass dropped down onto the bed, and Harry relaxed. Smiling up apologetically at Asriel he sheepishly replied

"Sorry about that, usually never happens." he huffed a bit "I'm not sure what's happening with my magic. Maybe if we can find my wand by where I fell..." he looked up Asriel hopefully. Asriel smiled back.

"Well, I've collected everything that fell with you, it's all laid out in the other room. Once you're feeling up to it, I can help you in there to look over everything. A lot of things were broken in the fall, but this wand of yours might have survived."

Harry immediately attempted to swing himself out of bed, only to find his head protesting strongly at the attempt, and immediately settled back down with a groan. Asriel just shook his head and chuckled.

"I think tonight may be out for that, Harry. I think after a good night's sleep you'll be much better, so i wouldn't worry about it too much. In the meantime, how about you eat something solid? You have been out for a while, after all." With that Harry saw Asriel reach down by the bedside and pick up a container that had some sort of food in it.

"Sorry about the condition. It used to be a sandwich, but now it seems to be more of a salad." Harry grinned and dug into the food. It was quite tasty even with it's odd state, and even after eating it, he felt better.

"Thanks, " Harry replied. "So... how long was I out then?" he asked between bites. Asriel pulled up a small chair beside the bed and dug into his own container of 'salad'

"Well, you were completely out of it for just shy of ten days, then sleeping a bit more peacefully for two. You first woke up earlier this morning, though you were still out of it then." Harry's eyes widened in surprise. He was rarely out for such a long period of time, even after his battles against Voldemort.

"Wow. How bad was it, then?" Asriel frowned in response to his question.

"Well it was touch and go there for a while, and your magic was reacting rather nastily. I had to remove everything breakable from the room." Asriel then stood and took a deep breath facing Harry with a serious expression. "Speaking of which, I should check to see how you are recovering. I am... going to do something to check on you. It shouldn't hurt, but it may seem odd. Are you okay with that?" Harry, noting the change in his demeanor, wondered what would be so odd as to require that kind of response. Then again, his experience with doctors, especially in the most recent years, had likely desensitized him to odd scans and procedures. Sitting up a bit more in the bed, he nodded for Asriel to continue.

-oo00*00oo-

Asriel prepared himself to initiate a battle with Harry, exceedingly wary of the possible consequences. The last time he did this to Harry, he experienced one of the most frightening things he had ever encountered wrapped around the boy's SOUL. The time before that was when he fought against Frisk, and... well he didn't really want to remember that. Still, this needed to be done, he thought to himself. Steeling himself for what may be a rather tense experience, he adjusted his stance, looked Harry in the eyes... and began

With a flash of sound and light, everything seemed to fade away to be replaced by just them and the grid. Asriel let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding; and at the same time he noticed Harry's breath caught as his eyes widened, moving his gaze from Asriel, to the field, to the colorful light that was his SOUL. Stepping up to get a closer look, Asriel was relieved to find that the shadowy corruption that was wrapped around the rainbow heart was completely gone. Harry's heart still seemed a bit fragile, and there seemed to be a few hairline cracks in the heart which did concern Asriel a bit, but compared to how it was before, he was more than willing to call this a tremendous improvement. His inspection was cut short by a hand reaching out and carefully wrapping around the SOUL, as Harry almost reverently took hold of the object and looked from it to Asriel with awed eyes.

"What... what is this?" Harry asked, eyes wide. Asriel smiled, admittedly a bit mysteriously.

"Well Harry, you might not believe this, but what that is... what you hold in your hand... is your very SOUL."

-oo00**00oo-


	5. Seeking--Finding

Disclaimers: See ch1

-oo00**00oo-

Obviously, stating something like 'you are currently holding the tangible representation of your SOUL in your hand right now' was enough to elicit a much longer, more involved, and if Asriel was honest with himself, exciting conversation about magic, monsters, and SOULs. Asriel realized, of course, that he really shouldn't be surprised that he would be extremely receptive to any sort of conversation, considering how reclusive he had been over the last months, with only sparing conversations with the occasional visitor to keep him company. It was actually an interesting experience for someone who had spent so much time having the same information around him, being able to exchange information with someone who was from so far outside his bounds of experience and knowledge. Asriel actually learned plenty from the conversation as well- though Harry was clearly a bit reserved, he seemed to enjoy spending time talking about basically anything, and certainly displayed a keen mind for many things, though he would often be a bit shy on details, sheepishly grinning and apologizing whenever Asriel would begin getting more technical in his questioning. He would also tend to avoid anything about himself personally, though Asriel thought that was probably just a comfort thing, which he could completely understand, there were a few things he would rather not discuss with anyone about his own personal history.

The back and forth question and answers about their respective worlds continued for a time until, in the middle of a rather long explanation about various magical creature, Harry had to stop to yawn. Asriel giggled a bit as Harry sheepishly smiled.

"Sorry, it seems I'm a bit knackered."

Asriel smiled back at the boy "Not a problem. How about we call it a night? Get some rest, and we can talk some more in the morning, maybe see if we can get you up and out of bed." Harry laughed a bit at that.

"That is something I would definitely enjoy." Asriel nodded, bid Harry a good night and walked out of the bedroom towards his own room. He was just at the doorway when Harry called out to him.

"Hey... Asriel?"

"Yes?"

"... Um... Thanks. You know... for saving me and all that." Asriel just turned and smiled at him.

"Glad I could help you Harry. Talk to you tomorrow, ok?" At Harry's nod, he turned and continued to his room. Walking into his room to prepare for bed, Asriel contemplated the last few hours with a small smile. He was surprised how easy it was to talk to Harry. It had been years, in a way, since he had been able to talk to someone new without any real veneer or hedging as he used to have to do during the cycle of resets. Talking to Harry was something new; he couldn't predict how the conversation would go, and that was incredibly exciting to him. Even if there wasn't a huge amount of personal information being exchanged, just the exchange of basic information on their worlds, their respective magicks, was more than enough to form a bond between the two of them. He went to bed, for the first time in he didn't know how long, truly excited to waken and start the next day. What he didn't realize at the time, but would only realize later when he thought about it, was that it was also the first time since the liberation that he hadn't fallen asleep fearful that he wouldn't wake up as he was.

-oo00**00oo-

Harry sat back against the bed as Asriel left the room. He knew he was exhausted, but his mind was racing so much that he really couldn't quite settle enough to sleep quite yet. A whole world living underground! He may not have been as academically inclined as Hermione, but even he could see the implications of this was staggering. To be honest, he was surprised that he hadn't heard of the monster liberation over the course of the last year, and he wondered if the magic users even knew that the monsters had even shown up. He made a note to himself to see if Asriel could find out who this Frisk was working as ambassador to.

Trying to roll over and rest his eyes, he tried to sort out his thoughts and plan for tomorrow in his head. He knew Asriel tried to play down the condition of his things, but he had a feeling that he probably wouldn't have much to his own name when he eventually took inventory of his things. He could live without most of the things he kept with him in his trunk; the only three items that he really were interested in were his wand, the invisibility cloak his father passed onto him, and his photo album. If he could at least know what happened to those, he would be able to make the rest work. Even the wand wasn't particularly necessary, as if he needed to he could replace that, though the thought did depress him, he had found himself attached to his wand after the last two years at Hogwarts. The cloak was bloody useful, of course, but really as it was the only thing he had of his parents, it had just as much sentimental value as functional. The photo album, of course, was also important for sentimental reasons. He had also added a few photos into the second half of the album of his new friends over the course of the last year, and it was one of the few reminders he had of his friends.

And thinking about his friends was a depressing thought. He wondered if any of them would be concerned by this point. He knew Hermione occasionally wrote to him over the summer, but he didn't think she would be concerned by a lack of response for at least another couple weeks, and hopefully he would be recovered enough to leave for the surface before then. Asriel seemed to be of the opinion that he was healing surprisingly quickly, though once Harry had mentioned magic and how it had sped his healing before, he seemed to come to a better understanding of the situation. Feeling the twinge in his leg as he shifted positions though had him somewhat concerned. What if some of the damage was too much for his magic to heal? Would it just take longer as he healed like a muggle? Would he ever recover completely?

Hearing the glass on the nightstand rattle again, Harry took a deep breath to steady himself. No sense in concerning himself about that now, he thought. He had certainly been through worse, and at the very least he was certain enough to be alive, and hopefully anything serious that Asriel couldn't fix he could take to Madam Pomfrey. And at the very least, even with a potentially injured leg, he could certainly still play quidditch. He knew that specific idea was silly in the long run, but it was enough to help him calm down a bit more. As the items on the table settled, he felt sleep finally start to come. He made one last mental note to make sure he did something nice for Asriel when he was able. Someone who would be as good a person... goat... whatever, as he was, deserves at least the same in return.

-oo00**00oo-

When it came down to it, Asriel thought, this was really about as good as anyone could expect given the circumstances. Thinking that, though, didn't really help ease the slight squeeze he felt in his heart at Harry's currently downcast expression. He knew, from their conversations the day before that the wand was apparently the source of power for the magic that Harry's kin used (though he honestly doubted that, given Harry's rather interesting displays), but to see him so sad as he held the broken and splintered pieces of wood in his hands made him feel like the wand was perhaps a bit more to Harry than a simple focus for power. He felt himself wishing he could do more, and found himself in the rare position of being unable to do anything to help. Instead, he simply laid a hand on his shoulder, offering silent support. Harry looked up at him, and gave him a sad, almost wistful smile, then sighed.

"Not much to do about it now, is there?" Harry nodded. "Well, there's a lot here to go through still, let's see if I can find anything else worth keeping."

Asriel smiled encouragingly, glad the moment had passed, at least for now. "Absolutely. I took the time to sort out as much as I could. Books and papers and such are all over on this side of the table, clothes and such are over there by the wall. I left most of the scraps of wood and anything I didn't know what to do with over there in the corner. What do you want to go over first?"

Harry thought for a moment, then nodded. "Let's go through the books first." With that he went to stand up, immediately hissing in pain as his leg gave out and he plopped back onto the dining room chair. Asriel rushed over to him and steadied him lest he fall out of the chair. "Damn. Sorry about that, Asriel. Have to get used to that still"

Asriel smiled at him, and supported him while he stood up and went around to the other side of the table. "Not a problem, Harry. Hopefully in a few days you'll be good enough to keep up on your own. Either way, we'll figure something out." He stepped back while Harry carefully lowered himself into the chair and started going through the books. Most of the outsides and edges of the books had been scorched, so it was difficult to tell what books were until they were opened. Asriel had opened a few of the books to find a lot of educational material - he had actually taken the time to read through some of the standard book of spells for grade 2, and was surprised by the variety of magic that these 'wizards' were capable of. As he thought over this, he helped Harry by taking the books and sorting them, placing the useless ones in a pile with other obvious garbage to be disposed of later, and trying to clean up any of the books that Harry had deemed still useful for him. He kept an eye on Harry while doing so, and noticed as he went through the pile, he began to grow more and more agitated. Fearing another magical accident, he considered saying something to try and calm him, but stopped himself. In the end, these were his things, and he had a right to be upset over them being in such a state. He vowed to keep an eye on him, and be ready to talk to him if he needed it, but otherwise to let him at least handle this on his own. His concern changed quickly, however, as one of the last few books gave Harry pause. Looking up in concern, he found that Harry wasn't upset, but rather was smiling, and laughing, though he did still seem a bit teary eyed. He had a book open in his lap and was looking down at an open page fondly. Unable to resist he stood from his work and walked over. "What is it?"

Harry could only smile and look up. "These... these are my parents." Asriel looked down at Harry's lap, and saw there, centered on the page in what he could now see was a burnt, but mostly intact, photo album, were a couple dancing in a square. Asriel froze at the sight. The two were clearly Harry's parents - the resemblance was uncanny. The fact that the were happy was also obvious, almost painfully obvious. For the first time in many many years, in fact in lifetimes really, Asriel vividly recalled the moments he had with his own family. At first just himself and his mother and father, and afterwards with Chara, his all but adopted sibling. He found himself lost for a moment in his own memories, tears falling unbidden down his face. After a moment, he realized that Harry had not noticed this, but instead had begun speaking. Quickly wiping the tears from his eyes, he focused on the tales Harry told him as he flipped through the charred photobook.

-oo00**00oo-

Harry wasn't sure really why he told Asriel as much as he did. It was like a waterfall really, once he started, he found himself unable, and really unwilling, to stop. He told Asriel what he knew about his parents, about their death. He told Asriel about his first year at Hogwarts, about how he found out he was famous for something he could never remember, about how he made his first friends, about his struggle with Voldemort in his first year, and with the shade of Tom Riddle the year afterwards. He told stories for who knows how long, until he got up to the point where he recalled tumbling over the cliff to the underground, and suddenly realized how long he had been monologuing and looked up at Asriel apologetically, saying "... hehe, sorry about that. I was really worried that this album was going to be gone as well. Got a bit carried away." Asriel only smiled back at him.

"Don't worry about it, Harry. It's nice to remember family. It's... well it's been awhile since I've seen mine, and it's nice to think about them occasionally. We... haven't been getting along recently, kinda my fault."

Harry looked at him curiously. "What happened?" He quickly realized how rude that particular question was and started to apologize, but Asriel waved it off.

"It's actually hard for me to talk about, though I should I guess. The short version for now is that... well, the magic in this place before the barrier fell gave me some... rather special powers. Well, really it gave the power to Chara, the first human who fell after the barrier went up. They... died... a long time ago, and gave that power to me. The whole story is still a bit hard for me to tell, but in the end, I realize that I didn't really know how to use the power, and ended up hurting a lot of people, though they don't know it, because Frisk fixed it. Frisk even sort of fixed me... or at least made me realize exactly how wrong I was. I helped break the barrier after that, and Frisk took all the monsters to the outside world. I... stayed, for a few reasons." Asriel sighed, his face a bit sad. "But in the end, it really doesn't matter. The monsters are all now free, and from what Frisk has told me, everything's looking good." He looked down. "No need to mess that up by bringing back old memories for them."

Harry wasn't sure what to say about that, though he could at least empathize. As someone who spend a good amount of time feeling like a burden, he did understand how separating yourself from others like that could make things seem better, even if he was smart enough now to understand that it wasn't supposed to be like that. He reached up and placed his hand on Asriel's arm, giving a silent show of support, which Asriel seemed to accept. Taking a deep breath, he continued.

"Anyway, enough of that. Ill tell you the long version later when there is literally nothing else left to do. For now, I believe you have two more piles of things to go though, if you are still interested." Both of the boys smiled and set to work picking through the remains of Harry's things.

It took another hour and change, but they managed to get through the remainder of Harry's things, the pile of things being kept being pitifully small in comparison to the pile of things that were junk. Harry had yet to find the last thing on his list, and decided to ask Asriel about it. Asriel took the idea of an invisibility cloak in stride, but frowned at Harry's explanation of it's description.

"Well, that's going to be a tough order." he said after a bit of thought. "If it fell in the right way, it's entirely possible that it's laying face up on the floor of the cavern someplace, or along one of the rock foundations. That cavern isn't the largest down here by far, but it could take a week or more to search it that thoroughly, and that's if we search all day every day." Harry's face turned down at this news, but Asriel was quick to continue. "But, I think we can narrow down the search area a bit based on where I found everything else. I wouldn't expect it to fall much farther away from the rest of the things that fell. We can start there tomorrow morning if you'd like. Maybe we can even get you out there on your own two feet, if the way you are bouncing your leg like that shows how much you've recovered." Harry looked down and noticed he was indeed moving his leg. He looked up at Asriel with a smile and opened his mouth to reply when his stomach let out a loud growl. The two of them laughed together, and unilaterally decided food should come before anything else.

-oo00**00oo-

The next morning Asriel found Harry already awake and in the dining room making breakfast. He tried to step forward and insist, but Harry waved him off, saying he wanted to properly test his leg that morning, as he limped from the fridge to the stove making what Harry said was "probably an omelette, though he wasn't sure what exactly he was pulling from the fridge". Regardless of the dubious source, the food was delicious, and the both enjoyed the meal in relative silence. After finishing up, Asriel led a (significantly slower) Harry out the main door of the home and back towards the cavern. As Asriel walked with Harry down the staircase, he became increasingly concerned. Harry's expression became more determined as he walked, but it was clear he was struggling with it. About two thirds of the way down the staircase, Harry stumbled as his leg seemed to crumple under him. Asriel barely managed to catch Harry, and as it was they both stumbled down a few stairs before recovering. Harry swore and sat down on the steps, rubbing his injured leg.

Asriel looked down at his new friend concerned. "Are you still hurting?" Harry shook his head.

"Not at all, actually, it's just hard to put any weight onto it, it sort of gives out under me." He sighed. "Sorry, thought I could handle it."

Asriel shook his head and replied. "It's alright. At least it's just when you put weight on it... if only." Asriel thought to himself for a moment, then suddenly inspiration struck. He told Harry to stay where he was, and bolted back into the house. Running to his room he started digging through the closet, shuffling through the various keepsakes and mementos he had collected over the last year from his journeys through the underground as himself. After a moment, he found what he was looking for, and having confirmed it would be nearly perfect for the task, he jogged it back to Harry, who had settled himself on the bottom stairway of the home. As he came down, Harry stood up with a bit of a struggle, looking curiously at the ornate staff in Asriel's hand. Seeing his confusion, Asriel explained.

"When my f... King Asgore left the underground for the surface, he made a vow that he would never strike out in anger again. He took his trident, the weapon he had used for so many years, and broke it over his knee, discarding the pieces. This is a part of the staff, and it's just about the right height for you to use as a walking staff, at least until you get back under your own power."

Harry looked at the ornate staff in Asriel's hand as he leaned it towards him, and he smiled. Harry reached out and grasped at the staff, his hand closing around it just above where Asriel was holding it. At the moment of contact, several things happened.

First, Asriel lurched back as though he was shocked - effectively he was, as something ran from the staff into his hand and up his arm, making all his hair stand up on end, his ears twitching and a peculiar feeling in his head. He could only stare wide eyed at the scene in front of him, as even moving appeared out of the question, the power around him swirling almost as strong as when Harry was having the first of his attacks.

Second, Harry stood up ramrod straight, the staff digging hard into the ground as wind and sound and magic itself seemed to wind around him and the staff, his eyes wide on the object thrumming with power in his hand.

Third, from somewhere completely unknown to either of the boys, a short skeleton was momentarily woken from a snooze. He blinked a couple of times, frowned slightly, sniffed a bit, then shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes, falling immediately back to sleep with a grin on this face.

After a moment, the buzzing and howling died down, though Asriel could tell that there was still something going on between Asgore's trident and his new friend as both of them seemed to still glow a bit with a power he had never really seen before. He wondered to himself exactly what it was he was getting himself into by helping this particular human, when suddenly the Human broke out into a huge grin. He met Asriel's eyes, and at his questioning gaze, responded with only one word, and a smile that looked like it would never go away.

"Wicked."

-oo00**00oo-

Is there any particular character you would like to know about? I have a few interludes and asides planned, but in general I want to know who you would like to know about I think.

Please feel free to comment on these questions or anything else really. As always, these are un-betad, so please let me know if you find some sort of terrible error or such. Till next time!


	6. Searching--Losing

Disclaimers: See chapter one, or just assume you have been disclaimed, either way

==oo00**00oo==

Harry walked alone along what he assumed was probably the north side of the huge entrance cavern, based on how the small bit of sunlight was streaming in from the opening a better part of a kilometer above his head. He was walking along close to the edge of the walls, his eyes sweeping up and down the rock formations up the cavern wall, while his new walking staff swept back and forth across the ground when he wasn't using it to move forward. He had been working on this slow search pattern for the last two hours along the outside wall of the cavern, and had nearly gone around back to the starting point, with no luck in his search. Setting down his staff, he moved a few paces forward, sweeping his eyes along the cliff face carefully, along the base of the wall, and down to the grass where he found... a goat boy holding a basket and wearing a rather smug grin. Harry narrowed his eyes and the two stood a few feet apart from each other silently for a moment, one looking surly and the other looking amused, if a bit apologetic. After a moment of this standstill, Asriel held up the basket towards Harry.

"I brought lunch. Figured you'd be hungry." Harry narrowed his eyes a bit more, but the rumble in his stomach betrayed him, stupid body and it's stupid needs. He took two steps forward towards Asriel, let out his breath in a quiet huff, but nodded his head over towards the cavern wall a few paces away, and they walked over and settled down in the grass, Harry setting his staff down beside him and taking a sandwich from Asriel. He settled down a bit more as he took a bite. He wasn't entirely sure what was on the sandwiches Asriel made, but it was good enough that he didn't mind so much.

"Thanks." Asriel grinned in response, and Harry got the feeling he was going to need his staff again in a moment. His thought was indeed proven right at Asriel's grin widened with his response.

"Oh, you're welcome... sunshine."

With a growl, Harry reached around and swung his staff at his insufferable companion. Hitting him once across the shoulder before he could dance out of the way with a giggle.

"Oh, come on, Harry. You know it was funny. "

Though Harry simply scowled at his friend while eating his sandwich, he had to admit to himself that it really was kind of funny. After the incident with the staff that morning, Harry had been rather excited after all. He had been rather concerned that his lack of wand would mean that he wouldn't have to spend the rest of his recovery sans magic, and admittedly he did kind of want to show Asriel some of the things they had been discussing over the last few days. When they had gotten to a darker portion of the cavern Harry had attempted to cast a simple lumos using his new staff, only to find the staff didn't want to cooperate. Harry would never admit it out loud, but he confessed to himself his reaction was a bit silly, as he started waving the staff about trying to get it to do anything, rather embarrassed at the lackluster reaction after the lightshow when he first took the staff.. When he got frustrated with the staff, he had actually pounded the staff end on the ground, and apparently this caused it to react rather strongly to his magic, causing the end of the staff to light up blindingly for just a moment. As he was blinking the light out of his eyes, he heard Asriel snicker, then giggle, then full on laugh. It took Harry a moment to realize that apparently the magical backlash from his spell had apparently caused his entire body to softly glow. Asriel, of course, teased him for the entire rest of the slow walk from the house to the entrance cavern, and Harry went from embarrassed to simply grumpy, as neither his gentle glow, nor Asriel's ribbing seemed to be coming to an end anytime soon. Snapping his thoughts back to the present, he shook his head with a smile.

"I am sorry, by the way, I shouldn't have snapped at you." Harry said, but Asriel waved it off.

"Don't worry about it. I probably would have done the same really. I'm just glad you at least got something to work. It'll probably just take time, which we've got plenty of while we're looking through this place" Asriel waved his arm to indicate the vast cavern in front of them. Harry could only agree, the cavern was enormous, and considering his current ailment, it would take that much more time to search thoroughly. Noting that his sandwich was done, and that Asriel was done as well, he struggled a bit to stand, but was able to on his own, much to his own satisfaction.

"Well, in that case, might as well begin. I already did the outside once, so do we want to start searching together now?" Harry asked Asriel, who shrugged and smiled.

"Works for me. I did a pattern starting at the far side..."

==oo00**00oo==

And so it went. Asriel found himself establishing a new routine, something he found somewhat more comforting when he had a companion to share the routine with. Harry and Asriel would get up, have breakfast, and go out to the cavern to search. They would spend the time talking about innocuous things, exchange stories about mundane things both above the surface and the underground. After a quick lunch, usually wherever they would stop, they would continue their search until the early afternoon, then head back towards the ruins and Asriel's home. Once there, they would often turn to slightly deeper conversation, Asriel talking about the ruins themselves, and about what monsters they might encounter when the eventually headed towards the exit of the ruins. Harry would often try to teach Asriel about the magical world as well, and at the same time practice his magic with Asgore's trident staff. Harry had actually improved there in the days since his initial accident with the lumos charm. It appeared, through trial and error, and some amount of combination of lore between the two boys, that Harry couldn't necessarily treat the staff like his old wand. Surprisingly enough, Asriel was even able to learn a bit of human magic as well. Though he couldn't perform magic that required wand movements, and therefore by extension a wand, he was able to take some pieces of magic, such as the point me spell from Harry's second year textbook and was able to actually feel his arm guided, as if by his own SOUL, to point to whatever he was thinking of at the time. It was unfortunate that the spell didn't end up working to help find Harry's cloak, but it was still extremely useful regardless. With work, it even appeared that Harry could create some approximation of more wanded spells, as long has he understood the magic beneath them, so the scorched theory books became very useful as Harry went through his old curriculum with Asriel's help

As time progressed, Harry seemed to be less and less reserved around Asriel, which he could appreciate, as he did find himself concerned that he would take the loss of his possessions a bit harder than he did. Perhaps that was because Harry, or both of them really, had things to focus their minds on. It ended up being a catharsis for both of them, and both of them had grown as friends as time passed in the underground.

It was a shock, then, on the way back to the house, to find all of the good experiences of the week come crashing down around him so quickly. He found himself frozen, looking towards everything and nothing in front of him. When Harry, clearly concerned, touched his shoulder, he nearly jumped out of his skin, and turned to Harry eyes wide in shock.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Harry looked concerned at Asriel's mood, but Asriel barely noticed. Shaking his head for a moment, he tried to give Harry a smile, and probably failed, he wasn't quite sure.

"It's just... I just remembered something I need to do, something I had forgotten till just now. I am going to have to go out into the ruins for a while tonight. You'll be okay on your own for a few hours right?" Harry immediately frowned, but nodded.

"Sure, but... you don't want me to come with? I might be able to help-" Asriel interrupted him, not unkindly.

"It's fine, I just need to check up on a few things, nothing difficult, but it will require me going through most of the underground on foot. Not to offend, but if you came with, we probably would be out all night" Asriel gave a small laugh. "You never have to worry about stuff like that until you need it, right?"

Harry nodded, still a little concerned, and not entirely willing to let him go on his own, but mollified. "if you're sure. Take care of yourself, alright?" Asriel nodded, put a hand on Harry's shoulder for a moment. Then turned and left, walking quickly through the entrance door and out of sight.

==oo00**00oo==

Harry had found the last week quite invigorating, considering the circumstances. Though he was somewhat concerned that his leg seemed to have halted in its healing process, he found that the rest of him felt more healthy and active than he had since... well than he had since ever really. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but since awakening from his fall, he really felt like a new person. He had read before that people who go through traumatic events would often come out of them with a new outlook on life, though he was uncertain that this reaction was something like that, as he had certainly gone through more dangerous situations than most people, and had actually probably been in worse shape after those situations when he thought about it. He wondered if it was something with this place, or with his new friend. And he certainly considered Asriel a friend at this point, and not merely because of the whole saving his life thing.

He found in Asriel someone he could really interact with in a way he wasn't able to, even with Ron or Hermione. Ron, he would find, would often get bored talking about deeper subjects (or really most things that weren't quidditch or chess) after a fairly short period of time, and Hermione would often take conversations into depths that he didn't believe he would ever be able to understand. Asriel, however, was fantastic to talk with, engaging in conversations about mundane things as well as deep discussions with a sort of energy he couldn't help but get caught up in. He hated to admit it to himself, but though he really appreciated Hermione trying to help with things like homework, he would find himself learning more talking to Asriel about magic than he ever did in one of Hermione's study sessions. He felt bad in a way, to admit to himself that he was finding spending time with Asriel to be... in some ways... better than time he spent with his first two friends. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something about Asriel that Harry found familiar, though he wasn't sure what or why. But at that point, details like that didn't matter. What did matter at the time to Harry was finding some food, all that searching makes a growing boy hungry.

Later on that evening, as they were walking back home Asriel suddenly paused, looking over at the flowers that grew around the entrance of his home. Harry looked himself, trying to see what made him stop, but couldn't find anything, looking over to Asriel to ask what he was looking at, he was surprised to find that, somehow, he could tell that Asriel had gone pale. Over the last few weeks, he had found that there were some subtle differences in how the goat-person would express emotions, and had gotten better at detecting them, but this was a new one for him. The closest thing he could come up with was that it looked like he had just seen a ghost for the first time. Reaching out gently with his good arm to see if he could stir him from his stupor, Harry nearly panicked when Asriel jumped out of his skin on the contact. When Harry asked what was going on, Asriel seemed to just wave off his concerns, and then went on ahead to check on something. As he left, Harry frowned. this seemed rather off for his friend, though he guessed it could just be that there was something Asriel forgot while going through all of this, and he really hadn't known Asriel very long at this point. He turned to look at the pile of leaves alongside the house. He wondered what exactly Asriel was looking at.

==oo00**00oo==

Asriel slowly trod through the mostly empty buildings of Underground, heading to the the Lab. His quick journey through most of the ruins had indeed confirmed his worst fears, and his greatest wishes (in a way). Each and every SAVE point had either crumbled completely into dust, or was nearly there. It was only the point in the judgement hall that still remained in any way, though he feared to even approach it, as it looked to be wavering on the brink of collapse itself. His first thought after confirming the inevitable was whether or not the entire Underground might be affected by the end of Determination, but confirming with a few checks of the many systems in Alphys' lab seemed to confirm that the underground itself was at least safe from collapse or self destruction. He made a few notes in a notebook he planned to leave there in the lab, he knew Alphys would appreciate any data of this caliber, even if it did come from Flowey. He scribbled out some personal notes and observations from the scanners that didn't keep a through history, and was starting to write out some conclusions, when he felt something hit the back of his writing paw. He ignored it at first, until another one fell, and another. The soft pat on paper, and he knew what was happening. He paused over the notebook, tears slowly running down his face. Why cry now, he asked himself? Why cry, when this ending was really inevitable, when it was what he wanted when he asked Frisk to leave him here. He set the pen down and looked up at the white ceiling of the lab. For a moment he just sat there, then laughed to himself.

"Heh... I was right. I really don't want to let go." He took a deep breath, finishing the notes, and after a moment's thought, flipped to the next blank page of the journal and scrawled a short note. He stood up and flipped off the lights, leaving the open notebook under a single task light. He walked through the lab, picking up a few things that he thought could help Harry make his now likely solo trip through the ruins. He knew he would end up making it back later than he anticipated, but he didn't know at this point if he would be able to make another trip out, so it was best to prepare as much as he could ahead of time.

==oo00**0oo==

Dr. Alphys

For what it's worth,

thank you

and I am sorry.

-Asriel 'Flowey' Dreemurr


	7. Interlude: Sirius Orion Black

Something Something Something Disclaimer

Something Something Something Complete

==oo00**00oo==

It had been weeks since he had a decent meal or a real warm bed, but the sun continued to shine overhead. As a dog, it was certainly easier to handle the rugged lifestyle, and the fact that it was much easier than time spent in his old cell certainly helped. Rising up from his short rest, he continued to trot through the woods along the highway, heading deeper into England's interior. It had certainly been an interesting journey up to this point, and given the circumstances of his little cross country jaunt, he found the pressure of his own thoughts weighing down on him more and more heavily as the days trudged on.

It didn't really start out as tense as this, even given the extraordinary circumstances of his escape. His time at Azkaban was... fragmented at best after the first year or two. Yes, spending time as a dog certainly helped keep the dementors off your metaphorical back, however it certainly didn't help with the mood of the place. He remembered flashes of the day he escaped, the minister with his ridiculous hat, the Daily Prophet, then

a blind rage, combined with the cold of the north Atlantic, and pain, a lot of pain. When he finally came to his senses, he found himself on the shores of the mainland, his mind slowly clearing from the nearly animalistic bloodlust from seeing the hated traitor. After shaking himself off, and finding a (un)fortunate meal in a few small animals in the woods off the coast, he began to take stock of his goals. Yes, ending the traitorous rat's life would certainly be near the top of his list, however, far more important than that, he need to see for himself that his godson, his pup, was safe enough for the time being. He struggled to recall where they might have taken Harry, to find any clue buried in his memories. Shaking his shaggy head, he decided that his first stop would have to be where everything happened, where everything went all wrong. Maybe, if he was there, he would remember something, anything that would point him in the right direction.

The few days after departing from the Atlantic shore were an exercise for Sirius' already frazzled mind. Going from the Atlantic coast to Godric's Hollow was a fairly perilous journey on its own, and between a fairly strong response from the Dementors (who he could easily evade) and the Auror corps (who were significantly more difficult to evade) he had to take a somewhat circuitous route to his destination, but it was at least fruitful, as while looking over the destroyed cottage of his former best friends, he was able to recall a potential lead; the fact that Lily's sister Petunia was one of the few potential places he may be able to visit easily meant that would be his first stop on the way towards Hogwarts and his personal vindication.

It took some doing, but he managed to sneak through Little Whinging without being seen, and slid along the outside of the Dursley home until he got to the rear window. Taking care not to be seen, he looked into the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of his Godson, but found none. In fact, moving from window to window, he couldn't find any sign that anyone other than the three Dursleys lived in this home. He was about to give it up as a bad job, and proceed with his search elsewhere, when he, just barely, caught a whiff of something, his canine nose picking up things that no human or wizard would be able to smell. This was the smell that reminded him of James. This was the smell of family. Sniffing around, he found that the smell was surprisingly present around the garden, and in fact permeated the backyard more than the other smells. Following the smells to the shed in the back, he pawed open the latch, and took a surreptitious look inside, only to find that, though Harry did seem to spend time in there recently, there was nothing else noting his current location. His canine instincts telling him something was amiss, Sirius decided to confirm Harry's safety, but there was no way he could do that while the Dursleys were awake, he would just have to wait.

A couple of hours later, after the Dursleys had been sound asleep for some time, Sirius carefully slid towards the back of the house, transformed back to his natural form long enough to slide the door open, and then pushed it open as the Grim again, trusting his nose to better guide him. He padded gently through the house, at first concerned that he might wake the family, however the snores coming from both bedrooms told him all he needed to know about that. Sniffing around upstairs first, he found that a good portion of the scent was coming from the second bedroom on the right, with multiple locks and the cat flap in it. Sirius had to restrain a rather loud growl at that point, his rage growing at the implications, however he had better things to do with his time, so he carefully opened the door to check what was inside, only to find an empty room. No sign of Harry whatsoever remained in this room, if Harry did live there, he didn't do so anymore. Giving up on that room, Sirius went back downstairs, looking for any sign of his godson. What he found, was a smell much older, much more established. Following his nose around the corner, he found himself ending his search in front of the door to a small cupboard. Transforming back into a man, he reached out to the handle with shaking hand.

Not more than three minutes later, Vernon and Petunia Dursley were very well aware there was an intruder in their home.

==oo00**00oo==

Sirius quickly scrambled through the backyards and patios of the neighborhood, making a break for the countryside while avoiding the sirens and lights of the police. He admitted to himself it was likely not the best way to find out what he needed to know, however his choice of actions was certainly effective. After finding what must have been Harry's former bedroom (given the cot and some rather broken toys) Sirius immediately decided discretion was no longer the best choice, and immediately pounded up the stairs and rather aggressively woke the elder Dursleys. After a rather tense initial interrogation Sirius found himself rather confused. Harry's smell was all over this home, there was no mistaking it, however the Dursleys could legitimately not recall anything about the boy, or even the fact that he existed. Both furious and baffled, Sirius eventually ended up dragging Petunia down the stairs and threw her in front of the cupboard. He had barely just finished asking her why she would have a worn out old cot in a cupboard, when she gasped and began to tremble. What started as a slight shake quickly became almost a seizure, and her cries began to climb in intensity. Sirius, however, paid her condition no real mind, his own thoughts solely focused on his reason for being there in the first place. Grabbing her head with his hands, he steadied her, looked into her eyes and said simply, passionately-

"Where? Where! Where Is Harry?!"

For a moment, Petunia's eyes focused directly into his own. Through clenched teeth, and with an expression that appeared fearful, desperate, and almost apologetic, not that Sirius was aware of it, she ground out two words.

"M-mo-mount Ebott"

Before her eyes rolled back into her head and he collapsed. Sirius smiled in triumph, glad that he finally had his answer, and then had to duck and roll away from Vernon who had managed to find a cricket bat and came at the fugitive swinging. Changing back into Padfoot, he wasted no time jumping out of the window and started heading away through the neighbors yards, finding himself quickly pursued by police forces, and not long after members of the ministry.

Sirius wasted no time after dodging the police and making it out of the neighborhood, making the trip towards Mt. Ebott as quickly as he was able as a dog. His entire mind was on the safety of his godson, but a small sliver of fear in his mind was beginning to grow. If the Dursleys had been under a strong enough geas to have that sort of effect on Petunia, whoever took him definitely didn't want to be found.. But why? Shaking that potential train of thought from his head, he looked up ahead of him, to see the shadow of the mountain hovering in the distance before him. Just a little longer, he thought. He should make it to the mountain by nightfall.

==oo00**00oo==

It indeed was a few moments after nightfall when he arrived, panting, at the base of the mountain. Stopping for just a moment to grab a quick drink from the nearby stream, the grim set to work. It was fortunate for the animagus that Mt. Ebott was generally not a well trafficked site, as the ground was relatively undisturbed. Even with that, it took his nose quite some time to pick up on the smell of his godson, but once he had found the trail, he latched onto it as only a dog can. Running down trails and through grass, steadily climbing up the mountain, heedless of his own condition as he traipsed through dangerous and sharp underbrush, Sirius continued to climb the mountain. As the moon rose full overhead, Sirius broke through the underbrush, sprinting forward barely registering what was in front of him. Fortunately, he was aware enough to skid to a halt just before disaster struck, digging in with his claws just on the edge of a great chasm. For a moment, he just sat there, panting desperately, muscles twitching and sore from hours and hours of running, his mind focused on only one goal: finding Harry.

After recovering his breath, the animagus started sniffing the air, trying to find where the scent moved to. He returned for a moment to the edge of the underbrush, retracing the scent, from a small out of the way grass path, to a cluster of logs along a flat portion of the hill. There! He found where they stopped, must have set down their things, the dust on the hill was disturbed, then further off to the side, more disturbed dust, this time more of it. The Grim's nostrils flared, there was a struggle. He could smell his godson, the smell of... wood? His eyes could see a few pieces of shattered trunk, gathering dust still off to the side. He could smell the remains of acrid smoke, not of wood, but of... something else. Whoever was here must have burned his things, destroyed his trunk. And he could smell blood, far, far too much blood. The light of the full moon was enough even for the Grim to find and trace it. Harry must have been horribly injured. He followed the trail faster, working more off of instinct than sense, tracking along the ground. The Dursley's must have dragged him along, moving him up to-

...

...

...

He stopped, frozen, his front paws a mere inch from the edge of the chasm, his nose, following the trail of blood, hung over the precipice, and his eyes, piercing the darkness of the maw below, seeing nothing in that moment but darkness, and his own failure. His failure as a friend, his failure as a godfather. His failure as a member of the family he had sworn to protect when that family protected him from his own, from himself. He saw nothing in that abyss but despair.

For a moment, as if in anticipation of a forthcoming storm, everything on the mountain was silence. Then, building from a low moan, a high pitched, tortured howl split the sky. The haunted cry echoed up from the night, scattering birds from the trees, causing smaller animals to shudder in fear and sink further into their burrows for the night. The echoing cry from the mountaintop caused a chain reaction that a few hikers and campers decided it would be prudent to end their trips a bit early. It even caused a stir in a few local news outlets, when the cry was picked up by local dogs, causing a ripple of answering howls to break out that spread out from the mountain to towns as far as a hundred kilometers away.

Sirius howled in pain and despair for as long as he was able, until, after a time, he could cry no more, and collapsed to the ground along the edge of the chasm, whimpering, until, after a time, he simply slept.

In the early hours of the next morning, a black grim rose from an uneasy slumber, shook the morning dew from its coat, and yawned. Turning its nose into the wind, it caught a whiff of what would soon become its breakfast, and trotted off into the woods around the mountain.

And remaining there at the edge of the chasm, the spirit of the man that was, the dust of a tortured soul, hovered in the air for a moment as if in remembrance, then dissipated into the ether, as the first rays of the morning sun cast away the haze on the mountaintop. Sirius Black, friend, traitor, brother, trickster, godfather... was no more.

The sun continued to rise.

==oo00**00oo==

_Home is behind, the world ahead_   
_And there are many paths to tread_   
_Through shadow to the edge of night_   
_Until the stars are all alight_   
_Mist and shadow, Cloud and shade_   
_All shall fade, All shall fade_

From: A Walking Song/The Edge of Night - JRR Tolkien


	8. The Sad, Sad Tale of Asriel Dreemurr

Meow meow meow meow disclaimer meow meow meow.

==oo00**00oo==

Harry sighed, sitting up slightly in his bed. He had just finished through his thirteenth round of 'count the ceiling irregularities' and he was officially bored with that game, and since sleep was not forthcoming, he figured he might as well give that up as a bad job as well. Rubbing his temples, he leaned over to the side table, grabbed his textbook, muttered a lumos to his staff, focusing on a dull light, and settled into reading a bit of charms. He had finished the first year book not more than a week and a half before, and had a good chunk of the second year solid in his mind, even finding a few pieces of magic that had not been covered in classes. He thought that he could finish out the entire second year curriculum and be ready to go for third year by the end of next week, especially since Asriel was being such a great help... And on that thought Harry gave up reading as well. Closing the book, he pinched the bridge of his nose, partly in frustration, partly to stem a developing headache. Things with Asriel had been surprisingly strained the last few days, and Harry honestly had to admit it was just as much his fault as Asriel's.

Things had been going well enough up until that night Asriel saw... whatever he saw a week before, and took off to look for something. Harry admitted to being somewhat concerned with his friend, probably more than he needed to be, obviously, but still concerned. He had settled himself in the chair by the fireplace and read through his books for a few hours after he left, made himself some food from the kitchen (something he had gotten fairly good at while still having to keep his staff nearby) and eventually fell asleep at the table while working through as much of his summer assignments as he was able with his limited resources. He was shaken awake by a clearly exhausted Asriel, who fondly called him an idiot while helping him peel his drool soaked homework off his face. Asriel apologized again, which Harry of course waved off, and they went their separate ways. On the way to his room, Harry asked Asriel if he found what he was looking for. Asriel paused, and responded without looking at him. "Yes, actually. Things aren't happening exactly as I expected, but the results are the same, so it's nothing for you to worry about." He then turned and smiled, they wished each other goodnight, and went to their rooms.

From the next morning on, however, things seemed to change. In the morning, rather than going through the same routines that they had been doing, Asriel had breakfast already waiting for Harry when he left the room, and Asriel was nowhere to be found, save a note saying to grab some food and that he would return shortly. Munching on what was probably some sort of cinnamon roll Harry walked over to the table, only to find most of his things set aside carefully, and the majority of the table taken up by a large map, seemingly partially finished, and heavily notated. Leaning down by the map curiously, he was startled when Asriel spoke up from behind him.

"Oh good, you're up and ready. Hurry up and finish your breakfast, we have a lot to do today."

Harry was confused, but complied, quickly finishing his sweet roll and grabbing his rucksack, following Asriel out to the ruins. He was surprised, then, when Asriel redirected him from walking to the same spot they ended their search the night before, and instead led him to some sort of training dummy placed off the end of the path. Harry set down his pack, confused, as Asriel walked up by the dummy. After a moment he regarded Harry critically, and said "Now, most of the monsters from the Underground are gone at this point, however, a few do still remain here for various reasons. Given the rather uncanny ability of humans to find themselves in trouble, I think it best I make sure you are capable of dealing with monsters if they do get in your way." He frowned a bit, then continued. "Now, given your magic, disabling monsters peacefully should be a fairly easy task, however, you need to note that most monsters are... generally more fragile than you would expect around humans. The monster SOUL reacts negatively to determination, to the desire to harm, so the more inclined you are to actually hurt a monster, even unconsciously, the more effective that hurt will be. This is why you need to be extra careful to ensure your intent is not hostile when restraining monsters. For practice here, I want you to attempt to subdue this training dummy... maybe use that paralysis spell to start out with."

A little shocked at Asriel's change in demeanor, Harry still faced the dummy and prepared himself. At Asriel's nod, he gathered his magic, his intent to restrain the dummy where it was at, and spoke the words, casting towards the oddly shaped training dummy. The Dummy shuddered a bit, but seemed to be restrained, and Harry smiled. Asriel nodded, clearly a bit mollified, and approved. Harry cancelled the spell, and the dummy sagged a bit. Asriel looked the dummy over and, finding nothing, nodded at Harry.

"That was very good, I hadn't expected you to do so well on the first try. However, that doesn't necessarily mean you have it down quite yet."

Harry frowned at that. "I.. don't quite understand."

Asriel smiled a bit at that. "Well, you certainly can control your magic well enough to restrain the dummy fine, however there is also-" and without skipping a beat, Asriel hefted the dummy up and threw it at Harry as hard as he was able. Harry's eyes widened, but his seeker skills kicked in almost immediately, and within half a heartbeat he had the staff up and was again casting the petrificus. Harry smiled as the magic wrapped around the dummy, and it actually froze in the air for half a moment, before suddenly...

**|9465|**

In a flash, the dummy shattered in Harry's face scattering wood and fluff in Harry's face, causing him to stumble backwards. Harry shook himself and stared at where the dummy broke around him, then at Asriel.

"W...what the bloody hell was that?"

Asriel's smile was perhaps just a bit vindictive when he replied. "That, Harry, was you accidentally killing a monster."

The next week was a rather more intensive exercise to Harry than he had expected. The mornings usually consisted of Asriel teaching Harry more and more about the underground, and specific monsters. Each day the map Asriel was making was more and more filled out, and he would have Harry memorize parts and pieces of it as he drew it and wrote notes on it. To Harry, it seemed a bit much in terms of effort, based on the distance, even in his injured state it wouldn't be more than a day's journey at most, but Asriel seemed driven to teach Harry, and he honestly couldn't really get a word in edgewise. In the afternoon, the two of them would spend some time back in the ruins looking for his invisibility cloak, though Asriel would often spend half of the time talking to him about ways to talk to and reason with the monsters in the underground (who, in Harry's opinion, seemed to be much less hostile than he had originally thought, more likely to attack based on a misunderstanding than any negative intent). The other half of the time was spent searching alone, as Asriel would often excuse himself. His excuses were reasonable enough, of course, but even so, he felt no small amount of concern for the situation, especially since his friend's absences became longer as the week went on, and he seemed more off upon returning afterwards each night. Finally, after nearly a week of this, and seeing his friend looking like he was going to fall apart at the seams if someone as much as flicked a bogey in his general direction, Harry felt like his concern had overridden his sense of decorum, and he attempted to get some more information out of Asriel as to his change in behavior.

Unfortunately, it didn't end up going well. Harry's concern was simply brushed aside by Asriel, and while he might have simply let something like that slide before, his recent brush with death, along with a surprising amount of self reflection he had gone through over the proceeding weeks, gave him a drive to help his friend regardless of Asriel's desire to be helped. This led to an argument that quickly escalated into a shouting match.

"Look, I just want to help you Asriel!" Harry yelled

"I don't need your help, Harry! I've been doing this on my own for a year now, plus you're still limping around, how do you think you can possibly help me!"

This caused Harry to react stronger than he had wanted to. The combination of Asriel calling out his still unhealed injury combined with poking at his (admittedly silly) problems with being unhelpful gave Harry an unexpected scowl. "Well I would know that if you would just stop being so damned secretive all the time. Quit being such an idiot and let someone else help you!"

That particular insult was paired with a crash, as one of the pictures along the mantle shattered and fell to the ground, Harry's magic swirling around him in his anger. Harry, wide eyed quickly struggled to get ahold of his magic as Asriel walked over to pick up the photo and put it back on the mantle. Harry quickly tried to apologize, but Asriel held up a hand to stop him, his back turned.

"Harry... I think... it's time for you to start your journey home. I... want you to know that it's been great having you here, but unfortunately, time has run out. Get a good night rest."

Harry opened his mouth to try and say something, anything. He came up short however, as Asriel walked down the hallway into his room and softly closed the door. And that led to Harry's current predicament, lying in bed staring at the ceiling, wondering where that particular conversation went wrong. Rubbing his temples, he decided that the best thing to do was not to focus on what happened, but instead to focus on tomorrow. In the morning he would apologize, and head out. Hopefully he would accept the apology, and they could remain friends, even if it meant he did have to leave. Resolute in that, Harry closed his eyes and cleared his mind of thoughts. It took a bit, but eventually he fell into an uneasy slumber.

==oo00**00oo==

The next morning when Harry awoke, however, Asriel was nowhere to be found. Instead, sitting on the table, he found a note and a small package. Opening the note, Harry read quickly.

_Harry,_

_I apologize for my outburst yesterday evening, but unfortunately my time is short. I am sorry I was unable to see you off this morning, but my situation has now made that impossible. Please understand that you needing to leave today actually had nothing to do with our argument, but instead circumstances not related to you, but rather to my condition, necessitated your departure earlier than I had originally planned, and I was going to have to tell you as much yesterday evening regardless. I wish you the best of luck, and hope you find your way home safely._

_Asriel_

_PS: I happened to stumble across this a couple of days ago, figured I would surprise you with it today._

Harry frowned as he turned to the package. Unwrapping the twine, and opening the wrapping paper, he gasped as he recognized the familiar shimmer of his invisibility cloak falling out. Harry was understandably ecstatic about this development, however he found his joy somewhat tempered by the fact that he wasn't able to celebrate this with his friend. In addition, he found that his desire to start on his journey home was actually taking less of a precedence in his mind over apologizing to his friend. If it really was just circumstances, why wouldn't he be here to see Harry off? And what was this about a condition? Harry frowned as he reread the letter. It seemed like Asriel was in some sort of trouble, he thought to himself. Maybe it was something he couldn't talk about, or something that he didn't want Harry to concern himself about. Either way, he had to say that it wasn't going to be enough to read this particular apology. He knew it might have been a little rash, but he wanted to talk to Asriel in person, to actually apologize in person, and maybe, just maybe, he could help his friend as well.

Finding a bit more conviction, Harry decided that he would get his pack together, but before he left, his first priority was going to be to find his friend. Spending a few moments eating a quick breakfast, and assembling the few things he hadn't already collected into his pack, he gently looped the invisibility cloak into a ring on the side of the pack, allowing him to easily access it if needed, and stepped out onto the landing. Gathering up his thoughts, he focused strongly on his memories of his friend, of the person who saved his life, and drove the end of the staff into the ground calling out to the open cave.

_Point Me, Asriel Dreemurr_

It seemed like the spell was going to fail again, like it had with the cloak, but Harry wouldn't have anything to do with that ending. Instead, he poured more of his effort into the spell, and the magic seemed to bend for a moment, before snapping into place, and Harry took off as fast as he could, back towards the entrance chasm. The point me was finicky, it seemed, and would occasionally fail, causing Harry to have to stop and reapply, but he could tell that with each time, he was getting closer. After the fourth recasting, the point me spell shuddered, and finally indicated he was within reach of his goal. With a smile of triumph, he looked up to find... an empty cave, save for a single flower in the middle of a grassy outcropping. Harry frowned. He didn't think that the spell could return a false result, so he cast again, moving slightly to the side of the cave, and found, yet again, that the point me spell was pointing to the center of the cave. Sweeping his eyes, looking for any sign of his friend, he could find none. Hesitantly, he called out to the empty space.

"Asriel? Asriel, I know you're there. If you think hiding... however you're hiding, is going to make me go away, you'll find I am surprisingly patient when I need to be."

He slowly walked around the cave, every few steps casting the point me spell, each time getting the same result. Taking a moment to think about the possibilities, he realized there were one of two likely solutions. Either Asriel thought he could stand in the middle of the room somehow completely invisible (he reached behind him to confirm that yes, his cloak was still there tied onto the side of his rucksack) or...

He suddenly turned towards the center of the cave and plodded slowly towards the center. Taking just a step onto the grassy knoll, he looked down towards the center, and the single sunflower there.

"You know you're not getting out of this that easily."

There was a pause, just long enough for Harry to start to wonder if maybe he had indeed gone round the bend, when softly, almost imperceptibly, he heard a response.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Harry was surprised. It definitely was Asriel's voice, that's for sure, but it was... changed. It sounded just a bit more biting, more sharp and direct than his friends soft tones. This was a sound he really hadn't heard from Asriel while he was there.

"Right now? I do have other things to do, but better things? Not really. Im looking for a friend."

The flower scoffs. When he responds his tone is bitter enough to make Harry concerned. "Hnf. Your friend is gone. Well, more like he shouldn't have existed." In a single motion, the flower turned towards Harry, and Harry blinked. The flower had some of Asriel's features, but the expression wasn't something he had seen on the almost perpetually smiling face. "There isn't really an Asriel anymore. Only me." The flower turned on a plastic smile and winked at Harry. "I'm Flowey the Flower! Nice ta meetcha!"

Flowey knew that he was probably being a bit harsher than he needed to be, but he didn't see any reason to care about that. It was probably better this way anyway, Harry could get himself away as quickly as he was able, and knowing that he was okay was the only thing that was really of any interest to him for now. He wondered to himself then, for the first time, what exactly he was going to do after his fr-the stupid kid was gone. It's not like he was actually going to leave the underground. He was so caught up in that particular though that he nearly missed Harry's concerned question.

"Asriel? Is that really you? What happened?" Flowey frowned at this, the kid really didn't need to be wasting time asking questions, he was wasting time here.

"Ugh. I told you, Asriel was never here. It was just me. I tricked you, figured you'd be a load of laughs, someone I could manipulate for a while since I was bored." Flowey grinned his 'Nasty Grin #2' for the kid. He was particularly proud of that one, it always got the best response when betraying someone. What was odd, is that it didn't seem to have the same satisfaction it used to when he made it. "You were a toy for my amusement, nothing else." He hated the hesitation in his own voice. He hated the betrayed look that briefly flashed across Harry's features. He hated this whole situation. But really, there wasn't anything else to do at this point. He turned away from Harry and scoffed. "You're lucky I'm just letting you go, I could have kept you here and-woah!"

Asriel struggled as he suddenly found himself hanging upside down, dirt and all, in front of Harry, who was looking at him curiously, frowning slightly. Grunting, he struggled to move, but found whatever magic was holding him up had mostly immobilized him as well. Scowling he glared at Harry. "What? Did I upset you? Did I offend your delicate sensibilities or something?" Harry just continued to look at him, long enough to for Asriel to become uncomfortable, until suddenly Harry nodded and turned away. Asriel started to struggle. "Hey! Don't just leave me up here, put me down if you're gonna leave!" Harry, instead of leaving, simple bent down at retrieved something from his pack, and slowly walked back over to Asriel. He looked down, and saw the shimmering fabric of the invisibility cloak underneath him. Before he could comment, Harry flipped his body over, setting him down gently onto the cloak, and just as quickly wrapped up the ends around the base of his stem, effectively wrapping him up into the cloak itself.

"I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to find out, because you are going to be coming with me through the underground. I told you Asriel, I can be patient when I need to."

Asriel simply growled. "I told you, I'm Flowey, stop calling me Asriel." But he didn't struggle as Harry gently lifted him up, and settled him as securely as he could at the top of his pack. He found that he kept the straps loose enough that he could move around a bit to see, but he certainly wasn't getting out of the pack without causing a lot of trouble. Grumbling darkly and muttering various curses, he settled himself in for the ride as Harry picked the pack back up, and turned around heading back towards the home, and the rest of the Underground.

==oo00**00oo==

Harry walked back towards the house in silence, Asriel - he refused to call him Flowey - in tow, silent as well after his grumbling ended. He tried to think of something to say, but continuously came up short. He wasn't even sure if there was anything he could say at this point, he was completely out of his element in this case. Here he had his friend, somehow transformed into a flower, one with a very nasty attitude no less, who had basically just told him to abandon the new friendship they had formed and leave him there alone in the underground. Now, of course he wasn't going to do that, first of all because he was a friend, one of the few he had (regardless of what he said earlier). But more importantly, because he could, in some sense, understand where he was coming from. If Harry legitimately felt like he was dragging his friends down, he would likely end up trying to push them away, the same way Asriel tried to do. Of course, since Harry understood this, he wasn't about to let someone else close to him get away with it.

As he approached the place he had been calling home temporarily for the last month, from behind him, he was almost startled by Asriel's voice.

"You know, I wasn't really lying when I said Asriel died a long time ago. He... I... died. I remember most of it, actually. Wasn't necessarily the most painful thing I have felt, but it was bad enough that I don't like to recall the details though." Harry stayed silent. He got the feeling Asriel needed to get something off his chest, metaphorically speaking of course, as flowers don't have chests. He took a quick wander through the home, making sure he had everything gathered for his journey out of the ruins. Asriel continued to speak while he was working through the house.

"Heh, you know Mom really did work to make this place as homey as possible. I had thought about taking some of this stuff down in the year since they left, but it just didn't feel right, you know? That's her, that picture on the mantle on the right, the one you knocked over. Toriel was... a heck of a mom. If she were here, you'd have been mothered into near insanity." He told Harry a few stories about Toriel from what he assumed was his past. He could only chuckle at these, recalling another mother who had an uncanny habit of being a rather intense parent when she wanted to be. Once Harry had gotten everything together, he went back towards the entrance hall and down the stairway to the basement, down the hallway. Asriel had long since passed into silence, until they had gotten a ways down the hallway and were approaching a large doorway. A chilly wind blew through the doorway, so Harry stopped and gathered his borrowed coat around him and took a drink from his canteen, preparing to head forth into the underground. As he began head towards the doorway, Asriel spoke again. Harry hesitated for a moment, then simply continued to walk in silence, listening to his friend.

"A long time ago, there were two groups, Humans, and Monsters. As you can probably guess, there was a war, and the monsters were forced underground behind a magic barrier. Though those were difficult times, the strong will and heart of our king and queen helped the monsters persevere, and even prosper her in the underground. Not long after, I was born. Asriel Dreemurr, son of King Asgore and Queen Toriel of the underground. Some prince I turned out to be..."

And so he continued. Harry walked through the underground as Asriel started to tell his story, haltingly at first, but more and more came out as they journeyed through the nearly completely abandoned underground. He heard the tale of the first fallen child, his own adopted brother, their early lives as a family. He heard of Chara's fall from grace, his plan, and their eventual deaths. He expected some sort of sadness from Asriel, but instead the voice coming from Asriel was merely flat, as though he were reading from a phone book, though he did seem a slight bit wistful in the retelling.

Harry continued to remain silent, however, walking from Snowdin to Waterfall as Asriel's story moved onto his awakening as a flower. He heard of the power of Determination, of his arising as a flower, and of the saves. Harry blinked at this, trying to wrap his head around the idea of doing things over and over, so many times. The thought both fascinated and terrified him, stuck in a perpetual loop, living infinitely like that. Add to that Asriel's inability to feel emotion at the time, and things started clicking together in his mind.

He also heard about the other residents of the underground, of Undyne the Knight, of Sans and Papyrus, Dr. Alphys, and many others whose names he didn't think he would be able to recall. He also heard about Asriels mother and father, how the 'death' of their children, and Asgore's subsequent despair and rage changed everything, and caused the eventual rift between them. He could understand both reactions, certainly, however he found it surprising that, for someone who seemed as... nice as Asriel portrayed Asgore in the beginning, how the rest of the underground was unable to convince him otherwise. Perhaps it was similar to how wizards seemed to have no regards for anything outside their own perceptions.

He would have perhaps asked this question of Asriel at some point, but after resting and changing into lighter clothes, they moved on through hotland and the core while Asriel's story turned to the final fallen child, Frisk. As they went through the final leg of their journey, Harry heard how Frisk went through the underground, making friends as they went. How they managed to convince everyone that the best way to go about things was not to fight. Harry actually felt a bit of sadness at this, he wondered for a moment if that would be an option for someone like Voldemort, but quickly set it aside. Everyone Frisk was convincing were only doing what they were doing because they felt like they needed to, because there was no other option, or because they didn't understand. Frisk was giving them an alternative, something that accomplishes their goals without causing harm. Voldemort and people like him were something entirely different.

As they went past the Core and up an elevator, Asriel continued to tell the story of Frisk and of Asriel's eventual betrayal. Harry frowned a bit at this, but he could certainly see how the pattern of behavior made sense. For someone who didn't think anything made a difference anymore as things would just repeat...

"Wait."

Harry paused from his musing to look up and found himself in... what he could only describe as the entrance to a cathedral, Light from some unknown source shining through the stained glass, the Delta Rune casting odd patterns along the floors. He half turned towards the flower over his shoulder, but Asriel's attention was elsewhere.

==oo00**00oo==

"There it is." Asriel said, looking over Harry's shoulder to the right. "The last one." He noticed Harry turned to follow his gaze.

"What? I don't see anything." Harry replied, but really Asriel wasn't listening. Urging Harry forward slowly, they approached the glowing spark, until it was close enough for Asriel to touch. He stared into the soft yellow glow.

"This, this is all that's left of them. Everything that happened, all the monsters I killed. All the times I hurt people...all the times I hurt Frisk. I would always end up going back to one of these... and now, all that's left of them is this one tiny glowing speck." Asriel reached out to the glowing speck, and as he reached closer, Harry gasped.

"Woah. I can... I can see-" and then both of them froze, as the save point sparked, seemed to shudder for a moment, then faded away, dissolving into sparkling motes of light that hung in the air, shimmering for a moment in the light through the windows, before fading away entirely. Harry stumbled backwards at that, nearly falling over but leaning heavily upon the staff. Wide eyed, he looked over his shoulder at the flower still staring at the space where the save point used to be.

"Shite... Um.. I'm sorry, I had no idea that-" Harry started to stammer out an apology before Asriel interrupted him.

"Don't worry about it. It really was a matter of time until it happened, not your fault. You know... before I... before I turned back I wondered how I would feel if they were all gone. I know I can't feel anything, but now... I guess I would feel... sad in a way, and happy. There really isn't any going back anymore." They both stood there for a moment until Asriel simply said "Let's go", and nudged Harry onwards through the great hallway.

==oo00**00oo==

They continued for a while in silence, until they came into another great hallway, this time clearly a throne room, covered in flowers, and generally a cheery looking place; their respective moods a contrast to the colors in the room though. Part way through the room Asriel spoke up, bringing Harry to a halt.

"This is it. Through that door and around the corner is where the barrier once was, and after that... the outside. You did good, making it all the way out here, by the way. For what it's worth, I'm glad i was able to help you get this far, to see you out."

Harry frowned. "What do you mean by that? You're coming with me, you know that right?" Asriel simply laughed bitterly.

"Look at me, Harry. I'm a flower without a soul. I may have been Asriel once, really I am nothing more than a flower now. There's nothing for me out there, just like there's nothing for me in here. It's best if I just stay."

"You don't really believe that Asriel, I know you don't."

"I told you, I'm not Asriel! I'm Flowey!" the flower replied, the heat building in his voice.

"But-"

"But Nothing! I am what happens when something that shouldn't be alive, is. I've killed people. I've killed everyone!"

"No you haven't, not this time! You said so yourself!" Harry began to shout at Asriel.

"That doesn't mean I wouldn't. I have no soul, remember? I have no reason not to kill, no conscience, no morals, nothing."

Harry turned to face Asriel with a frown. "I don't believe that." Asriel's face flashed something momentarily, then turned angry.

"Oh Really?" And Harry suddenly froze, as he felt a vine wrap around his neck, sharp thorns pressing up against his veins. Harry watched as the flower's face turned into a rictus of hatred. "It would be so easy, you know. Just a little twist, a bit of a tightening, and you'd be gone. I could make it quick for you, or maybe I could make it slow, just tighten a bit, slowly watch you suffocate. Watch as the life leaves your eyes. The last thing you would see would be your own misjudgement laughing in your face. Would be ironic too don't you think, to die right here, right at the end?" Asriel laughed the flower warping into a twisted parody of itself. Harry simply stared back struggling a bit to breathe, he choked out a response.

"If you're going to do it, get on with it."

Asriel reared up and Harry felt the vine tighten for a moment, felt the thorns just pierce his skin, a tiny bit of blood leaking through the vines. But he just stared at Asriel's eyes. For a moment, the vines stayed there.

Then they tightened a bit.

Then a bit more.

Then they trembled.

...

...

...

The vines slowly unwrapped from around Harry's neck, and he fell to one knee, catching a bit of breath while Asriel turned away from him. As Harry rubbed his neck and coughed a bit Asriel began to shake a bit.

"Why? Why does every human I meet always think so highly of me. I'm not... good, Harry. I'm not. I did so many horrible things. Why are you willing to do this?" Harry could hear the cracking of Asriel's voice behind him. "Why?"

Harry finished catching his breath, shook himself out and started walking across the throne room. After a few steps, he responded.

"A few reasons. First, at the very least, you saved my life Asriel, and that counts for something, enough that I want to make it up to you." holding up a hand to forestall a response, Harry quickly continued "I know that I don't owe you anything for that, nor am I trying to say as much, mostly because I would have the same problem with the idea. Doesn't mean that it isn't right to want to do something for someone who does something for you."

"Second, " Harry continued, " I really can't hold you responsible for what you did in other... saves, or whatever you want to call them. Honestly, If I was in the same place, having to go through the same thing over and over again... I don't know that I wouldn't do the same, eventually. But, you said yourself, the first thing you tried to do was to help everyone. Over and over you tried. That counts for a lot as well. And this time, even with what happened at the end, you still did right by everyone, and that's important too. I can tell you still want to do right by everyone, so if I can help you do that, even better. Third, I don't care what you say about you not being Asriel, you are still that same... goat, person, whatever... that I know, I can hear it in there." Asriel scoffed at that, but let Harry continue. "And I don't know, but Magic is capable of doing a lot of things. Maybe we can find a way to.. fix you, get you your body back, and maybe let you feel again. It's happened already once with enough determination, so why not find a way to make it permanent?"

Asriel replied, "I've tried, Harry, I've tried everything I know, worked with the most brilliant scientists of the underground for reset after reset. It's probably not possible."

Harry walked through the caverns and up past the barrier. The smell of the outside was getting stronger, and a bit of sunlight was now visible ahead of them.

"I'm not saying it's a certainty, but it's worth a shot. I have another friend who is very good at finding obscure pieces of information, maybe she'll be able to find some way to help" After a moment, they found themselves at the entrance to the caves, the exit of the Underground. Harry paused for a moment here at the threshold, took a deep breath and looked back, down through the caverns back to the underground, and thought about everything that had happened over the last few weeks, and he couldn't help but smile.

"Besides all that though, there's one other reason why I want to help you."

"What's that?" This time, there was no sarcasm in the question, no edge. It sounded like Asriel again for the first time that day. Harry's smile widened.

"Because, Asriel, you're my friend. And friends help friends through the good and the bad."

For a moment Asriel froze, then Harry felt him shift, and he turned to see his friend smiling while shaking his head a bit.

"Heh. You really are an idiot."

They both laughed.

Harry stepped forward, across the threshold, and out into the sunlight.

==oo00**00oo==

_Fade to white, Inverted cymbal noise... aaaaand._

**FATE VERSUS DETERMINATION**

**AN UNDERTALE/HARRY POTTER STORY**

==oo00**00oo==


	9. Interlude: Camp Underground

Doot doot disclaimer deet doot doot

==oo00**00oo==

The sun had been up for at least forty-five minutes, and as far as Undyne was concerned, it had been up for too long. Bouncing on her heels hard enough to rattle the things on the desk, she waited in the office, staring at the clock as it ticked away, clearly far slower than it was supposed to. Stupid clock. She oughta break it for having the nerve to be too slow, but she had been told by Toriel that the next time she did that she would have her own workout privileges restricted. Undyne shuddered just thinking about it. How was she supposed to keep the students in shape if she wasn't able to suplex a boulder every once in awhile? At any rate, the kids were far more important anyway, so for their sakes, Undyne would bear the heavy burden of.. Ugh... Toriel's 'reasonable' summer scheduling.

Her grin widened, showing a few more sharp teeth as the last seconds before 7AM ticked away. Quickly she dug through the list of old phonograph records sitting next to the record player in the main office until she found what she was looking for, her copy of Sveglia Militare Italiana. Well, a copy of Sveglia Militare Italiana, at least. After her first copy had disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and then her second copy had been found mysteriously melted, she had tasked Frisk with spending an entire day plowing through used record stores and thrift shops until they found enough copies that Undyne would never be without it. Setting the needle on the record, and tilting the microphone towards the speakers, she leaned down, hands on both switches, looking up at the clock as the second hand ticked away.

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

With a flip of her fingers the record sprung to life, sending the sharp tones of the bugle Reveille blasting through the compound, drowned out only slightly by Undyne's even sharper voice.

"Alright Campers! Sleeping time is over, living time is here! Time to get up face another awesome day head on! And your favorite physical education counselor is here to help! Now, Everyone Get Ready! Meet me in the center yard in fifteen minutes, let's goGoGO!" Grinning, she leaned back as she let the rest of the Reveille play over the intercom before flipping it off with a chuckle. He could just hear the groans from the kids from the office, monster and human alike, as they started getting themselves together for the day. Putting away the record and setting the office to rights, she strode out onto the parade ground at a leisurely pace. Usually it would be at least eight minutes before the first of the campers would show their faces after the announcements, so she had time to make it out to greet them. While walking out to the grounds, seeing the sun starting to peek up over the treetops to the east, she couldn't help but smile to herself at how great things had turned out over the last year. She admitted the first week or two had been a bit... hazardous. It seemed that, though everyone in the underground had thought about all the things they wanted to do, if they managed to make it up to the surface, but very few people actually thought about _how_ they were going to accomplish anything, herself included. In the first few days, it became appallingly clear (after a few near misses with some local humans) that simply walking up to everyone and sending along a friendly greeting would probably not be the best course of action. However, no one from the underground felt like hiding was an option either. Tensions by the end of the first week were probably higher than Undyne had ever seen, and there probably would have been monsters taking up arms, if it weren't for quick thinking by a few of the underground's finest.

The first, of course were the King and Queen, both of whom quickly stepped up and provided leadership and guidance, calming the monsters and educating them as much as they could on proper decorum and treatment of humans. She frowned a bit while walking between one of the school buildings and the cafeteria; that had been one of the hardest parts for her personally. She had been surprised to find that humans were actually a bit more... fragile than she had anticipated, enough that she realized her perceptions of how humans would need to be treated was completely upended. It took some long discussions and some research with Alphys, but eventually she managed to come up with a happy medium, allowing her to show her new human friends her true character without having to worry about fracturing things like their egos, and feelings and occasionally bones.

The other, and probably more influential, person that assisted in the transition was Frisk, who took to their named position as ambassador with a passion that almost (almost!) surpassed her own for her duties. Within the first two weeks, the monsters had enough information on humans to ensure there would hopefully not be any problems with the divide between them. About three weeks after that, Frisk had cooked up a plan to get a couple of monsters in to see England's queen. She felt the flush of pride at that memory, Frisk had decided to take both Toriel and, surprisingly, Papyrus, on that particular trip. Toriel's choice was obvious given the mission, but when asked why they chose Paps for this particular mission, Frisk just smiled and said 'He learned from the best.' If Undyne ever needed any justification for stringing Paps along in his quest to join the royal guard, that would be it. Apparently the three of them had a time getting into London, but they eventually did, and not long after that, got an audience with the Queen and her advisors, which according to all three of them went better than any of them could have hoped. In the weeks and months after that, Frisk helped plan out the eventual reveal of the monsters to the world, and what a plan it was!

She shook her head from her thoughts as the first camper stumbled their way onto the parade ground. Undyne smiled as Frisk rubbed the sleep out of their eyes with one arm while waving a greeting with the other.

"Heya runt, glad you could make it this morning. Heard you have a busy day too. You ready to do this thing?" Frisk gave a jaunty, though sleepy, thumbs up and a grin, which Undyne returned. She could always count on Frisk to make the day just a bit brighter. The second person to manage to make it out to the grounds was also not a surprise.

"GREETINGS UNDYNE!" gasped Papyrus, clearly out of breath from his run onto the grounds (though how he could possibly be out of breath, being without lungs, was an unknown to Undyne) "I, THE GREAT AND PUNCTUAL PAPYRUS, ARE THE FIRST TO ARRIVE FOR THIS MORNINGS ROLL CALL! GAZE IN WONDER AT THE... INCREDIBLE..." Frisk and Undyne both tried to hold in their giggles as he seemed to realize that no, he was indeed not the first one to arrive. Jaw dropping, Papyrus stared at the pair for a moment, before throwing up his arms and stating dramatically: "CURSES! FOILED IN MY QUEST FOR EXTREME PUNCTUALITY FOR THE THIRTEENTH TIME IN A ROW! YOUR POWERS OF WAKEFULNESS ASTOUND ME, FRISK!" he smiled down at the short human, who smiled back. "TELL ME, HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO ARRIVE SO CONSISTENTLY QUICKLY?"

Frisk just smiled and reached down into the pocket of their workout shorts, pulling out their phone, and showing him the alarm set to about fifteen minutes earlier than the wakeup call. While Papyrus showed his excitement at finding a new tool he could use on his own phone, Undyne watched as the rest of the campers started stumbling their way out to the parade ground, each in various states of wakefulness and/or dress. After nearly a year on the surface, she was surprised at how well the monsters were doing at integrating with their new lives. The ratio of humans to monsters was still low, though she guessed after what was going to happen this evening, all that would likely start to change dramatically. And to think, all of them had Frisk to thank for this opportunity, to make a whole new life for themselves. She looked over at Frisk, who had since finished their conversation with Paps and instead was over talking with MK and a few other kids. She smiled knowingly at the sidelong glances Frisk and MK would give each other when they thought the other wasn't looking; those two would be an awesome couple if they got their heads out of their collective behinds. Not as awesome as her and Alphys, of course, but nearly so.

Looking at her watch, she noted that time was nearly up, and doing a quick headcount, it appeared that she wouldn't have to go hunting down stragglers this morning. So walking back to the center of the group, she raised her voice to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, campers! Everyone's here on time, and everyone looks to have their shoes on this time, so how about we get started! First, let's all, we're taking the long route around the lake, so that's two miles, should be a great warm up!" She smirked at the groans that came from a few of the campers, but most of them seemed to perk up a bit at the news. "Now, Frisk! MK! Front and center!" She waited for the two to move up in front. "Per the schedule, you two will be setting the pace this morning, so make it a good one!" Frisk gave Undyne a thumbs up while MK nodded and gave Frisk an excited nudge on the shoulder before realizing what they were doing and straightening up, saying

"We won't let you down Undyne!"

"I wouldn't dream it, MK," she replied, then leaned down towards them and whispered, "but between you and me, some of these kids are getting a bit soft. Too much good food from Toriel I think. Make em work it off after the warmup." Undyne smiled at the identical grins from two of her favorite campers.

Turning to the rest of the crowd, Undyne called out to everyone "Alright monsters and humans, time to get the lead out! Hit the road!" and on that, they all were off. Papyrus came up beside Undyne as they settled into the end of the group, watching for stragglers as they went. After starting their trek around the lake at a jog, Undyne turned towards her fellow member of the royal guard.

"So, do you think tonight is going to go well?"

Papyrus continued jogging but turned his head towards Undyne in confusion for a moment. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

"I mean, from what Asgore told me, the meeting with the whoever tonight is like... the big one, right? The one where we finally figure out what we're supposed to do up here?"

"WELL, YES OF COURSE!" Somehow Papyrus manages to make grand gestures while still maintaining his pace. "ALL THE WORK THAT FRISK HAS DONE WITH THE HUMAN ROYAL FAMILY AND THEIR DIPLOMATS HAS LED UP TO THIS, OUR FINAL MEETING BEFORE THE OFFICIAL TREATY SIGNING CEREMONY." Undyne smiled as Papyrus practically floated beside her. "IT HAS BEEN FASCINATING TO SEE THE HUMANS AT WORK, ANSWERING ALL THE LITTLE QUESTIONS AND MAKING PLANS. IT'S ALMOST LIKE MAKING PUZZLES! EXCEPT OF COURSE INSTEAD OF FIRE AND SPIKES THERE ARE THINGS LIKE CLAUSES AND-UAUGH!"

Undyne laughed out loud as Papyrus, so absorbed in his description that he forgot to pay attention to where he was running plowed straight into a bush. Turning around, she reached out her hand to help him out. "You gotta be more careful, Paps. Your brother would kill me if you fell apart again." Papyrus started to complain about terrible puns, before realizing that she was being serious, and accepted Undyne's assistance. "Now, I think the kids are done with their warm up, don't you think?" Turning forward, she yelled "Hey! MK, Frisk! Warm Up's over, time to kick it into high gear!"

She heard the other campers groan as MK and Frisk smiled at each other, then took off at a much faster pace. As the rest of the kids sped up to keep up with the leads, Papyrus and Undyne took up the rear of the group, encouraging the folks in back to stay with the group. As they passed the north end of the lake, just past the cabins, Undyne saw Frisk wave at Toriel, who was standing on her front porch. Their initial greeting started a cascade of waves and shouted greetings to the camp's favorite teacher, counselor, and chef. Undyne and Papyrus laughed at the antics of the campers, gave their own greetings to the former Queen, and proceeded on with the rest of the run. Toriel and Papyrus sent cheerful greetings towards Toriel as well, who returned their greetings with a smile.

==oo00**00oo==

Toriel laughed as she waved at the campers making their way around the lake. It had become somewhat of a tradition during the last few weeks of the first annual 'Undercamp' for the campers to run by in the morning and greet her on her way out to start the camp breakfast. It had been by accident the first time, when a pair of the human children (two boys, both children of staff members in the British Parliament, Edward and Gene, if she recalled correctly) accidentally ran into her while stumbling around during Undyne's morning runs. The boys were shocked at first, and Toriel was worried that they may have started panicking, until Frisk managed to come to the rescue, walking up to her and giving a nice greeting. Monster Kid had actually followed almost immediately, and quickly the rest of the campers gave her greetings as well, quickly stemming the rising concern, and easing Toriel's mind.

It was a good thing as well, she thought in retrospect as she stepped off her porch walking over to the cafeteria. Early interactions between humans and monsters had been... strained... to say the least. The initial meetings between Frisk and the members of the Royal Court of England helped stem many of the concerns she had however. She smiled as she thought of those early weeks, and how surprised she was (though she shouldn't have been) on how eloquent and learned Frisk had been. It was those early negotiations that helped set the stage for what was happening this evening; a clandestine meeting between the members of the Underground Delegation, as Frisk had taken to calling the monsters, and the very highest members of the British governing bodies, and overseen by their Queen herself, no less! She shook her head, glad that Asgore, at least, had taken to assisting Frisk well with that specific part of the process after the initial meetings. Toriel was never really a statesmonster, and though she was indeed capable, she was rather unimpressed by the way things needed to be handled in politics, both with monsters and with humans. Yet another of the things that separated her from her former husband, she guessed.

Shaking her head from those particular recollections, Toriel entered the cafeteria to find the kitchen staff hard at work already. Greeting her friends and coworkers, she quickly set herself in the line, assisting in preparing with the human exclusive side of the kitchen, as they seemed to be particularly troubled this morning. As she prepared the batter for a particularly delicious pancake breakfast, she considered the remaining things that needed to be done that day while the campers were having their fun. She had completed the syllabus for the next school year, including the adjustments that needed to be made to pass educational standards for humans, though they still needed some minor revisions before they could be sent for review. Fortunately, as long as they were in before the week was out, she had been assured that her school should be able to open for both humans and monsters in six weeks when the school year started (yet another adjustment she had to make to her teaching schedule, as there was no such thing as summer break in the underground for obvious reasons). She had her hopes set on a dozen or so humans joining the young monsters in their first year open, then hopefully more in the following years. After that, she would need to attend to a few of the camp projects that the children were tasked with, and then she would return to her home in the early afternoon to help Frisk prepare for their evening. Then, this evening was going to be another movie night for the campers, which was an experience for everyone (especially Mettaton, who had taken to observing new human culture with a zeal normally reserved for Papyrus.) Toriel smiled to herself. The days hadn't been this full of things to do in ages. So many new experiences, and new friends to make, and she absolutely loved it.

==oo00**00oo==

After finishing up preparations for lunch, and ensuring the rest of the staff was had their tasks prepared for the early afternoon, Toriel went to find Frisk. As she headed out across the grounds of the camp, she tried to recall where the campers would be at this point in the day. She was so engrossed in her recollection that she almost missed the small boy headed past her towards the cabins.

"Good afternoon Miss Toriel!" the boy, Adrian Thomas, she recalled, one of the younger humans to spend the whole summer at the camp, said to her with a smile. Toriel easily returned the smile and replied.

"Good afternoon yourself, Adrian. Where are you headed to so quickly?"

"Back to my cabin for a moment, Miss. A couple of us wanted to play a few games during the downtime after the group meetings, so I wanted to grab a deck of cards." Toriel nodded.

"Wonderful. I'm glad you're making more friends." her smile turned a bit more mischievous "I seem to recall you being a bit concerned at the beginning of the summer about meeting so many monsters. It seems you've gotten over that particular worry."

Adrian blushed slightly and looked down. "Well... it was a little scary at first. Some of the monsters look really scary-" the little boy immediately threw his hands over his mouth, realizing his verbal oopsie and turning bright red. Toriel simply giggled at that and placed a paw on the little one's shoulder.

"Now now, nothing to be embarrassed about. I don't doubt that monsters would seem frightening at first, we are very different from all you humans, much more different than you are even from each other..." Toriel paused, then kneeled down in front Adrian and leaned in closely. "In fact, if you want to hear a secret, when we first left the underground and came to the surface, I was scared too." The boy's eyes widened in surprise. "It's true! The world outside is so much bigger than our little underground, and the things you humans have done since we left... massive cities, flying machines... you've even been as far as the moon, and even beyond that! So much has changed, and things are just so big now, it scared me at first too!" She smiled at Adrian's dropped jaw. "But, just like I said when you all first arrived at camp, 'It is easy to be afraid of something you don't understand. But if you take the time to learn...'" Adrian picked up the phrase with a smile.

"'You don't have to be afraid anymore!' Wow. I didn't know grownups got scared." Toriel just laughed at this and patted the boy on the head as she stood again.

"You're never too old to be afraid of something, my child. Just like you're never too old to learn something. Now, I believe we both have things to do, so I'll let you go get your things. By the way" she added as the boy turned to go. "You wouldnt happen to know where Frisk was at, would you."

The boy turned his head for a moment and thought, then replied "Naw, I haven't seen Frisk in a while, but MK is hanging out by the docks, and the two of them are usually together." The boy made a face. "They act so weird sometimes, especially when they're together." Toriel merely laughed at that and sent the boy on his way, heading quickly towards the docks to find MK.

She found Frisks close friend sitting on the dock, looking over towards the woods, feet kicking underneath and tail twitching agitatedly. She walked up the dock and MK looked up and noticed she was approaching. With a surprising amount of grace, MK's tail wrapped around one of the dock supports and pulled, and suddenly the kid was standing right in front of her.

"What is it? Has something happened? Is it time?" As the questions mounted, MK began to bounce in time with the tail twitch. Toriel merely smiled and tried to calm them down a bit.

"Now now, no need to worry. I just wanted to fetch Frisk to give them time to prepare for the meeting this evening. Little Adrian seemed to think you would know where I could find Frisk, though I wouldn't know why."

MK blushed a bit and grumbled too low for Toriel to hear but quickly looked back up at her. "Yeah, Frisk is down along the lake in a clearing, reading up on the treaty again." The young monster huffed, trying to look annoyed, but Toriel saw right through that. "Sent me away again. I was only trying to help too."

Toriel smiled sympathetically at this. "I know you want to help, MK, and I know Frisk has been very grateful for your help, they've said as much to me on several occasions," MK's frown turned into a bit of a smile at that. "You just need to understand that this has been the culmination of a whole year's' worth of work for Frisk, and indeed for the rest of us. I really think Frisk has put more energy into that document, into our futures, than nearly every one of us monsters. I wonder, sometimes, if we give Frisk is even aware of how much help all that work is for us..." MK frowned a bit, and Toriel smirked to herself. "Anyway, perhaps you could lead me to this clearing..."

==oo00**00oo==

A/N: By the way... the meeting the Queen scenario is one that I think is a hilariously awesome concept, but not one that I had really fleshed out. I mean, you have Frisk (who is a kid, albeit a clearly mature one), Toriel (who is both kind and intelligent, but whose last communication with humans on a large scale was clearly pre-industrial), and Papyrus (who is... well... Papyrus) all trying to get from the wilderness through the UK, into London, and somehow into a meeting with the Queen of England. Hilarity would have to ensue. However, writing it is just not in the scope of this story. I may come back to it, but if I do, it will be well after this story is complete. Sooooo... Consider it a writing prompt folks! If anyone does write this one, let me know in the comments, or just PM me, cause I'd love to read it.

Two more characters left to check up on before we get ourselves back to our intrepid Wizard and his floral companion. 


	10. Finding the Future, Losing the Past

#include disclaimer.h

==oo00**00oo==

Read, recite silently, close eyes, recite silently, ask questions, answer questions, breathe. Turn page, repeat. Repeat, repeat repeat. When the last page is done, ask more questions, answer more questions, breathe. Flip over, open again, page one. This was the tenth iteration this morning, the document itself short, yes, but dense. What was important here was context, clarity of purpose. The people that were going to be in the meeting this evening were, mostly, sympathetic, however many of them, far too many, were clearly more interested in politics than in the safety and security of the Underground coalition. This was why review was necessary. This was why the last week had been nothing but reviewing and reviewing, note taking, memorizing faces and dossiers from photos and preparing impassioned talking points. This was, more so than nearly anything else since arriving above ground, the lynchpin for true freedom for the monsters. For the time being, until this was done, nothing else could really matter.

_And this was why MK had walked away from you nearly in tears._

Frisk sighed, thoughts radiating self betrayal, and admittedly a decent amount of guilt. It wasn't like raising their voice was the end of the world, it wasn't even really a fight. It certainly didn't even start as much. In the first weeks and months after arriving on the surface, Frisk tried to spend as much time as possible divided between trying to help the monsters adjust to the outside world, and doing what Toriel affectionately dubbed "normal human child things." Hanging out with the adults had been decidedly easier. When Toriel first started a trial version of her school, Frisk was able to spend time getting to know the young monsters, some of which they hadn't seen in their original trek through the underground Unfortunately, the interactions were often... not what Frisk had expected. Some monsters were subtly, or overtly, hostile, apparently still tainted by the old policies and teachings of King Asgore. Over the months, this had been somewhat mitigated, however that just ended up putting many monsters in the second category. Those monsters, along with the majority of the others, had been nothing but polite and kind to Frisk, but generally were unable to understand how to act around Frisk or how to treat them.

A lot of them were still learning about humans, of course, however it was clear that many of them were confused because in many ways, Frisk was far from the sort of humans they were studying from their varied learning sources. On more than one occasion Frisk ended up having to answer for their own... peculiarities, which often dug up old wounds. Contrary to some monsters apparent opinion, for example, Frisk was certainly not mute. In fact, Frisk was rather proud of both the level of eloquence and the rather high vocabulary skills they possessed, it was perhaps their second greatest gift, but one used sparingly. Words have power, a power in so many ways greater and more subtle than any destructive tool wielded by monster or human alike. Frisk learned very early on in their life, thanks to a rather peculiar gift of the mind, that they were capable of retaining a strong understanding of words, and how they could be used and subsequently abused. They remembered their father, a cruel man who, while very intelligent, was far from wise when dealing with his wife or their child. Frisk's mother was little better, turning her frustration at her husband exponentially onto Frisk, heaping on criticisms and abuse for years, even after separating from her husband. Frisk found solace and shelter in books, and found that a gift for both quick reading and a almost perfect retention of the written word meant their own frustration could be vented towards academics. Frisk could easily boast a high school reading level not long after entering grade school, and a vocabulary to rival most college students by the time their mother effectively abandoned them in the woods at the foothills of Mt Ebott. It was this learned nature that had so far given Frisk the ability to navigate through both the pitfalls of the underground, and the pitfalls of human politics, making them perhaps the youngest diplomat recognized by any national authority ever. Whether or not that action was justified, would be determined in the next few days, which was precisely why so much time going over the details of the evening's meeting as much as possible was crucial, and why there was enough justification in sending MK away for the time being.

_Even though he was only trying to help. He's been doing nothing but helping since the beginning, and you just simply dismissed him. You used_ _**words** _ _to dismiss him._

Frisk sighed and closed the book again, standing up and shaking the dust off their pants. Clearly no new research was going to be done until this was resolved in their mind, so it was best just to get it taken care of. Pacing in a circle around the clearing, an internal monologue began to work itself through.

So the first thing to understand is what happened. Remember what words were used, and both their direct implications and indirect ones...

_We told him that he wasn't being effective any longer in assisting us, that his understanding of the material was insufficient, and that his physical presence was becoming distracting to our work._

Okay, that first answer was honest, and a bit blunt admittedly, but no less true. MK's drills were extremely useful, especially when Frisk was working on memorizing names and faces with basic information, but at this stage the words and information were too dense for MK to sometimes even read correctly, let alone properly communicate their meaning.

_But we love teaching him these things. And he loves learning from us!_

Frisk smiled despite the situation. MK was probably one of the fastest learners in the underground, soaking up new information with a level of excitement that nearly matched theirs, it was one of the reasons why Frisk liked spending so much time with MK. Indeed, in any other circumstance Frisk would love to have spent the time to go over all the little idiosyncrasies of the treaty with him, but there just wasn't enough time now, and as frustrating as it was, he needed to let enough alone.

_But he was, in his own way. He spent at least three hours yesterday just sitting there with us while we recited the treaty over and over, completely silent. Not to mention this morning. And we spoke to him, just because he wanted to support us._

Okay, perhaps there was some overreaction there.

_Some? You told him to go away when he put his tail on our shoulder when we got frustrated!_

Okay, a non-trivial amount of overreaction yes. Normally, Frisk was completely okay with MK's occasional physical contact, though he did appear to be shy with it, for probably the same reason why it affected Frisk as much as it did. Like that time during movie night when they ended up leaning on each other's shoulders, arm and tail intertwined for hours. Or that other time during Undyne's early phys. ed. classes when his tail ended up brushing up accidentally against-

Frisk stopped that train of thought rather quickly, before it led to the... interesting yet contextually inappropriate conclusion it was going to. Now was not the time for fantasizing, now was the time for understanding and realism.

_Okay, so conclusions? MK has been nothing but helpful and fantastic to us over the last few weeks. Obviously we overreacted, and need to apologize, but let's be clear. What are we going to do to make it up to him?_

Frisk's internal monologue was interrupted by a rustling through outside the clearing. Snapping out of their dialogue, Frisk looked up to find Toriel heading through the small trail that led to what Frisk had internally dubbed their clearing. gathering up the folio, Frisk looked at Toriel with a questioning smile.

"Hello my dear child. I wanted to come and fetch you a bit early this time, to make sure you are properly cleaned and dressed for the meeting" Frisk's smile became a little more teasing, and Toriel only lasted a moment before laughing a bit. "Alright, I was also worried you would be a bit stressed, so I wanted to give you a bit of a treat as well, so I made some pie again for you." Frisk giggled. Toriel's pies were renown throughout the camp for their particular deliciousness, though they were very rarely made, usually for special occasions. Frisk was glad in this case for the early start to the evenings preparations. "I should let you know MK was the one who told me where you were. He was kind enough to show me where..." Toriel had turned around, and Frisk leaned over to find that Toriel was looking at nothing in particular. "...well he was here at least." Frisk sighed. Of course he wouldn't want to stick around after being treated so terribly. Damn the stress of all this making it difficult to keep a clear head. Toriel obviously noted Frisk's frustration, as she placed a paw on their shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about him, dear. He knows very well how difficult this is for you, and wants to help you however he can. He is young, though. From what I have seen, it appears that males of that age, human or monster can be... difficult to deal with at times." she scowled and muttered to herself "males of any age, really". She blushed when Frisk snickered at her aside, but quickly shook herself out of it with a rueful grin. "Under any circumstance, I know he understands why you sent him away, so I wouldn't fret too much about it. In any case, let's be off so we can prepare for tonight."

==oo00**00oo==

A few hours later a freshly fed, watered, and washed Frisk stood in front of a mirror in their bedroom checking their outfit in the reflection. Toriel had done wonders on the outfit, managing to put together a graceful suit like uniform incorporating the royal insignia without appearing to militaristic or stiff, and had a unique cut tailored to suit Frisk's particular style. In short, it was perfect, and it fit beautifully. Smiling for a moment, Frisk straightened their shoulders and stood tall, looking every part the diplomat, before nodding at mirror-Frisk and walking out into the living room.

When first arriving on the surface, it became clear that the immediate area around the exit to the ruins would not necessarily be suitable for any sort of long term settlement, as the terrain was too rough, and as it was still on the mountainside, they would be too exposed. Instead, after some scouting, it was decided that a relatively sparse patch of forest on the edge of a rather secluded lake about an hour's journey from the entrance would be a suitable place for long term settlement, and thus construction of the city known as 'Wahrenheimat' began. In deference to their saviour, one of the first 'real' dwellings to be built was the home that Frisk, and by extension Toriel, would be staying in, a ranch style cabin within viewing distance of both the lake, and the central square of the town. Over the following months, the home had gained a character that was indicative of both Toriel and Frisk. The two had foregone taking most of the items from Toriel's old home (Toriel because she felt it would be a fresh start for her, Frisk because of the knowledge that Asriel would still find use of the place.) and instead had been able to create a new, unique home together as mother and child. However, Frisk still felt there was something missing from the place, as if it wasn't yet complete, but they could never quite put their finger on it. Toriel actually agreed with that sentiment, though had no insight on the issue either. In the end, they had still named it their home, and kept on the lookout for things that would help solve the riddle. The sight of the home that Frisk and Toriel had begun to build together, and the promise of a future in which that home can become complete, filled Frisk with Determination, and, pace steady, Frisk took a breath.

"Mother, I am prepared."

Toriel looked up from her book and smiled at her well dressed child. "And you look wonderful, my dear. The perfect example of what can be done when you are determined to succeed." She stood and walked over to Frisk. "Now, Sans should be here in a few minutes to take you and Papyrus, but before you go, there is something I want to say." She then stood in front of Frisk, and for a moment it was clear exactly why Toriel was known as a queen at one point.

"You, Frisk Dreemurr, emissary of monsterkind to humanity, hold in your hands this evening the keys to, not only our freedom, but our future." Frisk shuddered internally, but remained outwardly at attention, focused on Toriel's words as she continued. "This future is one that, without your help... we never would have had the chance to achieve. And for that alone, you have our eternal gratitude. Your decisions have time and time again, proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that our trust in you has never been misplaced. I want you to know that, regardless of the results of this evening, we all as monsters will always accept you as one of our own." and with that she kneeled in front of Frisk and wrapped her arms around them in a hug "and that we as a whole, and I specifically, love you. As a friend, as a child, as a savior. We all know that you will do your best for us. And however that ends up, we thank you for it." Frisk froze for a moment, then did the only thing they could do, and returned the hug with a fierceness born of the love of a child for their mother. After a moment, the both drew away, Toriel wiping a tear from her eye, and Frisk with shining eyes and smile suspiciously bright.

"Now, let's head on out to the porch, I believe that your ride is here." Taking Frisk's hand, Toriel led the way out the front door, and found that there were a few more monsters there than she had originally anticipated. Sans and Papyrus were there of course, Sans greeting both Frisk and Toriel as cheerfully as always, and Papyrus clearly attempting (and failing) to not be nervous. Undyne and Alphys were there as well, along with a few other monsters, and even the human children. Frisk looked out as subtly as possible around the crowd looking for one smile in particular, but came up short. Frisk resolved right then that the first thing that would be done that evening would be to go find MK and apologize. But for the time being, it was important to address the group that was present.

"Thank you all. You have all been wonderful. I will do my best to return the favor." Frisk's voice, clear and concise, was greeted with cheers from the small crowd, as they walked down the porch and towards the skeleton brothers. Toriel walked over to Sans while Frisk went over to Papyrus and handed him a few more notes that had come up in the last review of the material.

"Sans, thank you again for volunteering to take Frisk and Papyrus again this evening." Sans' grin grew just a bit wider as Toriel spoke.

" **Heh, nothing to worry about Tori. more than willing to lend a helping hand. Though i probably shouldn't, it might spook them a bit more than necessary** " Toriel laughed, which caused Sans' smile to widen further for a moment but both smiles faded quickly.

" **Seriously though, you know the kid is more able to get themselves out of pretty much any trouble they could get into without help. That bein' said, i'll keep an eye socket out until they go into the meeting.** " Toriel nodded

"I know you will." Sans hesitated for a moment, then nodded and turned back to Frisk and his brother.

" **Hey, paps, you two ready to go?** "

"CERTAINLY BROTHER, WE ONLY AWAIT YOUR ACTIVATION OF THE SHORTCUT AND WE CAN BE ON OUR WAY!" Papyrus said, practically bouncing with excitement, while Frisk merely nodded, a slight smile on their face.

" **Well then, let's get ou-** "

" _WAIT! WAAAAAIT!"_ a voice called from behind the throng. Frisk held out a hand to the two skeletons, stepping towards the crowd. That voice was quite familiar...

"Waaai-woah! Sorry! Scuse me!" Frisk couldn't help but snicker as MK, always one to do things in the most interesting way possible, stumbled directly through the crowd towards Frisk, nearly falling over, but managing to catch himself, he came to a halt just a few paces ahead of Frisk. After catching his breath, and still looking down, he started to speak again.

"I... um... well I wanted to-I just wanted to say. Yo... Um... I... Jeeze I'm bad at this. Look, I... I just wanted you to know." Suddenly he looked up, and Frisk could see the tears in his eyes.

"IjustwantedyoutoknowthatIthinkyou'reawesomefordoingallthisandIjustknowyouregonnasaveusallandithinkthatssocool!" He took a deep breath, paused and just laughed softly. "I... sorry, sometimes I'm just not that good with words and-"

"Hey." MK stopped as Frisk took a few steps closing the distance between them, expression serious. Frisk had though a few times about what should be done the next time MK would show up, however, at that moment, looking at him, Frisk could really only think of one possible choice. For a moment, they just looked into each others' eyes, before Frisk took a deep breath, and MK looked away. He shouldn't have come. He was just being a distraction, he should just...

"Thank you." MK looked up in surprise to find a smile on Frisk's face. Before he could respond however, Frisk leaned in, and, to nearly everyone's surprise, softly and quickly kissed him. Stepping back Frisk smiled again, blushing slightly. "Stargazing again tonight?" MK could only nod dumbly and Frisk turned back to the group. Toriel had covered her mouth with her paws, but it was clear she was smiling, Undyne was giving a rather excited thumbs up, while Alphys looked nearly as gobsmacked as MK. Papyrus' excitement had increased exponentially, and Sans merely gave a knowing wink and beckoned Frisk forward. Rolling their eyes, Frisk approached the skeletons and stood beside them, giving a final salute to the monsters as Sans snapped his fingers and the three of them shortcutted away. Undyne was the first to move after they left, heading straight over to MK.

"So punk, you think that went well?"

MK simply sat down on the ground, eyes locked on where Frisk had just left and a rather goofy smile on his face.

"Yo..."

==oo00**00oo==

Sans breathed out a heavy sigh after arriving with his two passengers in a secluded alcove outside of Buckingham Palace. Shortcutting like that usually wasn't much of a drain, but between the distance which was an order of magnitude further than any of his normal shortcuts, combined with taking two passengers along with him, it usually left him just a bit strained. He thought to himself that it may be time to start improving his stamina, before laughing to himself. Standing up straight, he found himself, along with his brother and Frisk, at gunpoint, though at least this time is was decided less hostile than the first time they arrived in this method. One of the officers approached the three of them, and at a nod from Frisk, all three of them presented the ID badges the palace had provided them for this trip. After receiving confirmation, the armed ones lowered their weapons, and Sans found himself relaxing just a bit more. While Frisk and the palace liaison, a Mr White, if he remembered correctly, he took a moment to collect himself and look over the guards that had returned to their positions. Mostly they had generally returned to their stoic guard poses around the grounds, a few remained with the group as they were quietly escorted towards the palace itself. As they continued to walk, Papyrus sidled up next to him and asked, as quietly as Papyrus was capable of at least, "BROTHER, I WAS WONDERING IF YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO DO ME A FAVOR AFTER WE ENTER THE MEETING ROOM?"

" **sure bro, you know i'm always willing to be helpful, as long as i'm not on break at least"**

Papyrus did not rise to the bait, which made Sans both proud of what his brother was becoming, and a touch nostalgic. "WELL, IN CELEBRATION OF THE SUCCESS OF THE TREATY, I WAS PLANNING ON COOKING A RATHER SPECIAL RECIPE FOR THE CELEBRATION TOMORROW, BUT IN ORDER TO PROPERLY PREPARE IT, I WILL NEED SOME OF THE MUSHROOMS THAT GROW ALONGSIDE THE GLOWING MUSHROOMS IN WATERFALL. I WAS WONDERING IF YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO PICK SOME UP ON YOUR WAY BACK?"

" **sure paps, don't see why i couldn't swing by the underground for a bit tonight. Easier to slack off when nobody's around anyway** "

"*SIGH* OF COURSE, DEAR LAZY BROTHER. BUT BE SURE NOT TO SNOOZE TOO LONG, OR ELSE I WON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO PREPARE MY RECIPE!" the two skeletons grinned at each other, before Frisk waved Papyrus over towards the door of the conference room. "WELL BROTHER, IT SEEMS DUTY CALLS. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR TAKING US THIS EVENING. I SHOULD HOPEFULLY BE ABLE TO TAKE FRISK HOME MYSELF, HOWEVER I WILL CALL YOU IF I SHOULD REQUIRE ASSISTANCE."

" **You got it bro. See you tonight!** " and with that, the best hope of monsterkind, and Papyrus, were off to their work. Smiling and nodding to the guards, Sans walked around a corner and took a shortcut to the entrance to the ruins. Stepping through the entranceway, he strolled through the caves to the throne room and his next shortcut. Typically Sans could take shortcuts at any time, however after the barrier went down, there did seem to be some residual effects. For example, though Sans could shortcut anywhere through the underground, and as far as he was aware anywhere above ground permitting he had been there at least once, he couldn't transit between the two places, it just wasn't possible. Aside from that, though, Sans had noticed that anytime he spent in the underground he would feel... odd. Like a tingling in the back of his skull, a feeling like something was wrong, though he could never put his finger on what it was. He had typically just dismissed it as the lingering sense of wrongness he would often feel after timelines had been disturbed. This time, however, something seemed more off than before. At first he wondered if the kid had reset again, but a quick check of his memory didn't show any of the odd jumps and gaps he usually felt when that happened. He sighed to himself, he really needed to start giving the kid more credit than that. He knew the kid had committed to no longer changing the timeline, to let things come as they fell, and honestly he believed them. But still, he had to break a promise before, who said the kid wouldn't have to do it either? Walking past the barrier room into the throne room he prepared himself to shortcut his way through, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Taped to the back of the throne was a large envelope, 'Frisk and/or Sans' written on it. Speaking of kids, the skeleton thought to himself, reaching out and snatching the envelope. Figuring this would be a likely apology to Frisk, again, and a long string of mostly well-natured insults for him, he decided to open it in the light of the throne room before heading out. Taking a seat on the throne, he slid one bony finger under the envelope's seal and took out the paper. He had to smile, as the first few lines had clearly been written and erased several times, apparently the flower had some trouble forming words... or at least that was what he thought until he started reading through the letter.

_Dear Frisk,_

_I apologize for the directness of this letter, however it has been very difficult to figure out exactly how to tell you this in a letter, it would be a lot easier to do in person, however neither of us actually know where you monsters settled after leaving the underground. My name is Harry Potter, and I am writing you this letter, as our mutual friend currently is no longer in a position to write letters, or even really hold a pencil properly. I wanted to let you know that he has decided to accompany me, though he vehemently insists that it really wasn't his decision, and I am also supposed to tell you that I can be almost as convincing as you when I want to be. I am actually going to be going to visit some friends before I head back to my boarding school in Scotland for the next school year, and I am going to be taking Asriel (who I refuse to call Flowey, regardless of what he says) with me to see if I can find a cure for his little transformation. Our people are no stranger to odd maladies and strange magics, and I am hoping that we may be able to find some sort of solution to his particular issue while I am at school this year. Hopefully I will be in a position in a few days to be able to contact you directly, however Asriel thought it best to leave a note here just in case you arrived before we were able to. I will keep you updated on any information as to our attempts to fix his sunny disposition, and hopefully around the winter holiday we can make some sort of plans to formally meet in person, I know Asriel would certainly enjoy catching up with you and seeing your new home._

_I know it seems odd to ask this in a letter, but I want you to know that I fully intend to find a solution to Asriel's problems. He saved my life when I fell in the ruins, and I owe him that much at least._

_HJP_

Sans was honestly surprised. Over the last year, he had occasionally run into the kid while helping the occasional monster who had yet to leave the underground, and had struck up a sort of acquaintanceship with him. After learning who exactly he was, he was surprised to say the least. While he had known about the doc's experiments with determination, he had been distracted with his own personal project at the time, and hadn't put the pieces together until Asriel made some mentions about the timelines exactly who had started the whole mess. In the end, while he didn't necessarily blame the ex-prince for everything, he had been the catalyst for...

The Saves.

Eye sockets going blank, Sans froze for a moment. It couldn't be that simple could it? This feeling of strangeness, the sense something was odd, the strange flashes of... something he had noted a while back. He hadn't put the pieces together until just now. Glancing back down at the note, he found a postscript. The note fell out of his shaking fingers, as he slowly stood up turned around and leaned over, looking behind the throne. He saw the flowers. He saw the light streaming through the windows. He didn't see...

And then Sans was gone.

==oo00**00oo==

_P.S.: Asriel also wanted me to add, his words, not mine: 'Smiley Trashbag, when you notice what's missing, check the lab. You may want to get the doc involved too.' Not sure what that means, but you've been informed._

_==oo00**00oo==_


	11. Beginnings and Endings, Part One

It seems like most of the disclaimers on this story are this dog

Thinking about this...

Doesn't make much sense at all.

==oo00**00oo==

After the aide left the anteroom, Frisk took a deep breath to settle the few nerves that were frazzled. At this point, there was likely little the bureaucracy could throw at this process that hadn't already been handled or been prepared for, so there was little reason to worry at this late a stage. That didn't keep Frisk's foot from tapping repeatedly against the wood floors in an anxious cadence. Papyrus, it seemed, wasn't faring any better. He was currently standing in the center of the room, looking down with a frown of concentration while fidgeting with his scarf. The two of them looked up at each other, both opening their mouths to say something, and, finding nothing to say, merely grinned at each other. After a moment, Papyrus sighed, and walked over to Frisk.

"FRISK, I... I KNOW HERE HAS BEEN A LOT GOING ON RECENTLY, AND I HAVEN'T HAD THE TIME TO SPEAK WITH YOU, MY THIRD BEST FRIEND BESIDES MY BROTHER AND UNDYNE, AND I KNOW THIS MAY NOT BE THE BEST TIME TO SPEAK OF PERSONAL MATTERS, BUT... I JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU. I ADMIT... I MAY NOT BE THE MOST SUBTLE OF SKELETONS AT TIMES, BUT YOU STILL GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE SUCH A GREAT DIFFERENCE."

Frisk merely smiled at the skeleton. "You know, I really didn't do much. You had already proven to everyone just how much you wanted to help long before I even came to the Underground, you just needed a proper forum in which to use that desire to make it happen. If anything, I should thank you, all of you. You have given me a real home, a real family, things I hadn't had in a long time."

Papyrus smiled, and, clearly trying to lighten the mood, struck a dramatic pose. "WELL FEAR NOT, HUMAN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS INTENDS TO ENSURE YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE GREAT GIFT OF HIS PRESENCE! YOU'LL BE SO DISTRACTED BY MY GREATNESS, THAT YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO CONCERN YOURSELF WITH SUCH PROBLEMS AGAIN! NYEH HEH HEH!" He managed to hold the pose for about three seconds, before both of them broke out in quiet laughter, the stressful mood broken.

They spoke about trivial things for a few more minutes before a knock sounded at the anteroom door, and a well dressed woman entered swiftly, closing the door behind her. Looking over at the two ambassadors, she raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it seems you two are certainly a bit more relaxed than I had anticipated. If I recall, the first time you were in this room awaiting for a meeting you" she said, looking at Frisk, "were nearly frightened out of your wits, and you", referring to Papyrus, "had broken a priceless vase." At their chagrined expressions, she merely shook her head and laughed. "You two have certainly cleaned up since then." Papyrus stood just a bit straighter at that, brushing an imaginary piece of lint off of his former armor.

Both of the other occupants of the room snickered, glad for the levity, if only for the brief distraction. The moment passed quickly, however, and Frisk, straightening up their uniform, turned the conversation. "It is good to see you again, Miss White. Thank you again for helping to coordinate everyone for this meeting. Are things expected to proceed as we all planned?"

"I told you before, Frisk, outside of the formalities, you should call me Jean." the woman replied with a grin before continuing. "and yes, we are expecting nearly everything to go as planned. All the necessary members have been informed, and everyone who was expected to arrive at this meeting has already been accounted for. They're expected to start right on time, as a matter of fact, which of this group is somewhat uncommon." She giggled a bit, and Frisk snickered. "In all, you shouldn't have any issues beyond what we've already planned for." For a moment she paused then added "though, these are politicians we are talking about. Remember the information from the dossiers, and be prepared to have to argue a case or two, otherwise you should be just fine."

Frisk nodded. "I think we are about as prepared as we can be for this. If she is unavailable this evening, please extend my thanks again to Her Majesty, without her help I am unsure if we would have been able to accomplish even this much." Jean just smiled at Frisk.

"I think you'd be selling yourself short for thinking that, dear. You really are a marvelous person." her smile turned just a bit mischievous. "In fact, if you're interested, my sister's son is probably about your age, and could probably use a good influence in his life..."

Frisk's blush was a bit more pronounced than they would want to admit, considering the circumstances, a fact that Jean picked up on almost immediately, as her expression went from teasing to excitedly interested. "Ooh, I know that look! That's the look of someone who just recently had a change in their relationship status. Oh, I want to hear all about your new friend, whoever they are-" she paused, her hand up to her ear, as her expression changed. "It looks like it will have to wait though. The cabinet members are about to start. She walked over to a small box on one of the side tables and flipped a switch, and through a speaker Frisk could hear cluttered mutterings. "This should keep you up to speed on what you need to know" Jean said with a wink. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go ahead and watch things from inside. We'll let you know when it's time to prepare for your entrance, but for now, just listen in. Oh, and don't think the fate of your friends means I forgot, you and I will have to have a chat later." And with a quick shared smile, Jean walked through the doorway and out.

Frisk sighed and turned to the little monitor and stared intently at the little box. Taking a seat next to the side table, Frisk began to really get nervous. In just a few moments, the most important moment of their life, indeed the lives of many of the monsters who were counting on them, would begin. Eyes shut tightly, Frisk tried to breathe steadily, but forcing calm was never really their strong suit, however. Fortunately, a steady hand gently set on their shoulder halted a potential panic before it could start. Looking up, Frisk found Papyrus standing there, his regularly grinning face smiling even wider down at his nervous friend, who couldn't help but smile back. Regaining their determination, Frisk then nodded, and both of them turned their attention to the small black box, to the ramblings of politics, and the moving of worlds.

==oo00**00oo==

Throne room... nothing.

Snowdin... nothing.

Waterfall... nothing.

The Core... Nothing!

Sans fell onto one knee as he suddenly appeared in Hotland, breathing heavily. His body clearly felt the stress of so many shortcuts in such a short period of time; it had been a long time since he actually took to exerting himself so much. Catching his breath, he stood up again, and walked along the edge of the cliff face, walking towards the lab door. Glancing to the side at the again empty space that was the save point outside Gas-Alphys' lab, he walked up to the door, only to find it locked. At first, he turned to walk around to the back entrance, but stopped before he had gone a few feet, suddenly remembering something he had left. Walking over to a rock by the corner of the building, he reached down and grabbed a keycard.

" **Heh, never thought I'd end up using this again myself.** " flipping over the blank side of the keycard, he took a glance at the photo, a much younger looking Papyrus staring back at him. " **But it can't really be helped right now. Sorry, bro.** " walking back to the door, he slid the keycard through, and the door quickly opened. Hurrying through the hallways and down into the lab, he headed for the section of the lab that dealt with DT Extraction. If the flower meant what he said from those notes, he would have had the scanners running, and any notes would be there. It felt... odd, walking through the hallways of the lab after so many years away. Sans was rarely nostalgic in the more recent years, but he could almost feel the physical presence of the memories here, the time he spent with Papyrus and... wandering through these hallways, working on projects for the king. It was nice then, and he felt like he could make a difference. He stopped for a moment, skeletal hand leaning gently against one of the doors. For a moment, he just stood there, lost in half-buried memories of the long since past, before he shook his head to clear it. There were more important things going on now than memories.

Increasing his pace, Sans shuffled into the DT scanning room, flipped on the light switch and walked over to the notebook. His smile twitching a bit at the note on the open page, he flipped the notebook back a bit, looked for where the handwriting started changing, and began quickly flipping through the pages. What he found was, unfortunately, somewhat beyond him. Oh, he gathered the implications just fine, but his skills in reading lab notes and measurements we rather rusty. Setting the notebook down, he looked up at the machines, searching for another possible cause for the readings. Why would the SAVE points fail if the DT was able to dissipate beyond the barrier? And what would happen now if...

Sans shook his head. He could sit here thinking about what-ifs, but it wasn't the time. He needed to go through all this, but there was no way he could go through it as quickly as he would need to. He needed help, and he knew just where help would be at that moment. Standing back from the desk, he turned in place and landed just on the inside of the barrier remains, a few steps later and he was outside, turning behind a tree, he jumped again, landing right in the middle of Undyne's living room. Quickly shuffling to the side to dodge a spear from Undyne, he stepped towards the couch and reached out.

" **sorryUndynehaftaborrowyourgirlfriendtalktoyoulater** " and with that, he lifted up Alphys from the couch and jumped away, Undyne's annoyed call of "SANS!" loud enough to echo through the subspace.

==oo00**00oo==

"Which of course, brings us now to the final item in the agenda." Frisk looked up at Papyrus. Their time had come. The voice on the phone continued. "I apologize for the rather intense secrecy to this particular item on our docket, however given its sensitive nature, I believe you will understand. Within these envelopes is a particularly sensitive piece of information, one that I trust you understand needs to be handled carefully." Some rustling of papers, then the muttering grew.

"I don't quite understand, Lord Evans. Is this some sort of joke?"

"Yes, these photos are... interesting, to say the least, but this can't be possible, can it?"

"I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that these photographs are genuine and authentic. What you are seeing is a new group of beings, recently discovered after centuries of being trapped underground." the mutterings grew louder and more intense. Papyrus began to mutter himself, a little concern, but Frisk sent him a calming smile, this so far was expected.

"This must be some sort of joke, and frankly I am not amused. This document appears to be... some sort of treaty? I hardly think this form of trickery is worth all of our valuable time..." The arguing from the box was quickly forgotten as an aide came through the side entrance to summon them to the door. It was nearly time for their grand entrance. It only took them a moment to head through an old servants entrance and found Jean waiting for them just outside the entrance. Leaning down towards Frisk she placed a comforting hand on their shoulder, and whispered "you'll be fine, just watch Mister Rice, he seems a bit surlier than normal this evening."

They waited for a moment, and then, Jean nodded to the two ambassadors. "It's showtime" she said, and reached out, swinging open the servants door, and the three of them walked into the room. Stepping quickly to the side, Jean allowed Frisk and Papyrus to step out to face the room. Frisk had to fight the sudden urge to fidget, to glance down, to look at Paps, really anything that would mean forgetting that there were nearly two dozen very very powerful people in that room, every one of which was staring at them.

"Announcing, Frisk Dreemurr, ambassador from the Underground Coalition to the British Crown, and Papyrus, second in command of the Underground Delta Guard and assistant to ambassador Dreemurr." both of the newcomers to the room gave respectful bows, then stepped forward. Frisk took a deep breath, steeled their determination, and prepared to prove to everyone at home precisely why their trust was well founded.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I want to personally thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to be here, and to apologize for the secrecy that must be forced upon you by our appearance. Our only hope to come from this treaty is that we as members of the Underground are able to properly integrate into surface society with as little trouble for both sides as possible."

SIlence held the floor for a moment after Frisk spoke, only to be followed by utter chaos in it's wake. Frisk sighed silently, and swore that they saw Jean crack a very brief smile out of the corner of their eye. It was clearly going to be a long evening.

==oo00**00oo==

It wasn't until he had landed outside the ruins and was tugging Alphys through to the throne room that there was a reaction.

"W-w-wait! Sans! Whats going on?"

Sans didn't answer, just continued to pull the scientist along. Alphys started to protest again, but before she could get out more than a word or two, Sans had again taken them to the lab, where he promptly collapsed to his knees, nearly bringing Alphys along with him.

"Sans! What the heck is going on? Why would you just-" Alphys cut herself off as she turned and saw the sweat dripping from his head. "Ohmigosh! Sans, y-you have to be more careful, you're g-gonna hurt yourself!" Sans shook his head, panting, and still unable to catch his breath. He really needed to build up some stamina for the future... and wasn't that a unique thought for him. Vaguely, he noticed Alphys try to help him up, but he waved her off. Still unable to speak clearly quite yet, he pointed her in the direction of the desk with the notebook. Alphys was clearly torn. "Sans, you can't just drag people away l-like that. And you s-should really watch yourself, I know how much transiting takes out of y-you, and there isn't a-anything...that... could be." Her eyes drifted towards the monitors, flashing through the data cycles, and the cameras, all pointed at the save points, or in these cases, to empty air. For a moment, it seemed like Alphys would shrink away almost entirely, when suddenly, something clicked, and she gained an expression Sans could only say he had seen on her face a handful of times, and that's including times in many, many other timelines.

"Data. I need data."

The two of them spent the next two hours pouring through all of the records for the last year, making connections, analyzing data point after data point. He had to hand it to the flower, that kid certainly knew how to keep a lab running, even when the staff was down to one. Nearly every piece of information was properly documented and timestamped. The two of them could work back the data to nearly the day, and everything seemed to point to the same answers.

"So, what do we know?" Alphys paced back and forth while Sans leaned against the work table. "First, we know that the total mass of DT seems to be nearly the same."

" **Do we know for sure? It appears that the concentrations are the same here, but we know that it does go through the barrier. Have any of the monsters on the surface exhibited any symptoms like the old test subjects? Or like..** " He stopped, he couldn't really finish that sentence.

"No, I had thought about that almost immediately after leaving the underground, since we didn't really know the actual source of determination, I wanted to make sure that being on the surface wouldn't cause the Amalgamates to break down. It seems like, though there is DT on the surface, it's not generated at the rate that occurs on the surface. It's also apparent that Monsters don't naturally lose any more DT than they naturally generate."

" **So that rules out scary theory number one, at least the flower-** "

"Asriel"

" **-Asriel should be happy to know that at least. All the notes he took seemed to point in that direction as his conclusion."**

"He didn't know about the research we did on the surface. It's frustrating to not know the actual source of DT, if we knew that we might be able to answer so many more questions."

" **I wouldn't worry about that, doc. You'll have plenty of time to figure that out later. For now, disappearing blinky lights.** "

Alphys had the decency to at least look a little embarrassed. "Of course... Though there is one other possibility. I know you don't like to think about it, but..."

" **I had thought about that too. Brought up his notes, and gave them a once over while you were digging through the computers."** He handed over a single sheet of paper to Alphys. " **This is what you may be thinking of."**

Looking over the paper. Alphys frowned. "No... no this won't do it. Cross-dimensional fractioning would have affected far more than these, based on these numbers... would have torn the underground apart completely... no, this would have to be localized... only one dimension could be affected in the local space." She suddenly looked up... "so that means... a single dimension falling back into sync due to the release of the barrier."

Sans looked back at Alphys, eye sockets empty and smile unusually grim. " **And we know of only one specific way that one dimension could have been out of sync with the rest... and we know how to test it."**

**==oo00**00oo==**

Next time: How do you tell someone that they need to try to end the world, even if it's just a little bit?


	12. Beginnings and Endings, Part Two

I used to be a fanfiction reader like you, then I took a disclaimer to the knee.

==oo00**00oo==

"... and though I am sympathetic to the specific needs and desires of your coalition, ambassador, I feel that your requests of sovereign control of the geothermal plants, even if temporary, would set a dangerous precedent! Having the support of our government, and by extension its laws, will help you both establish legitimacy, and ensure that any potential... conflict of interest would be handled appropriately by our government!"

"Oh stuff it, Roger! Everyone at this table knows you are just looking for an easy out if they decide to start providing power."

Frisk resisted the urge to roll their eyes. The first few minutes after revealing their presence to the table was met with disbelief and some small quantity of fear. The next few minutes after that, as Frisk took the time to explain the situation, albeit briefly, had captured the attention of nearly everyone at the table. Then Frisk made the planned 'mistake' of mentioning the various resources the coalition could offer surface society, which quickly set nearly everyone at the table back into their own personal 'safe zone', politics. The people at the table had been going at this for the last three hours almost non stop, but Frisk was certainly okay with the situation. It appeared that dangling such a generous carrot completely distracted them from the major peculiarities of the situation as a whole. However, that didn't mean Frisk wasn't vigilant after that hurdle was past; each person at the table could easily ruin the entire scenario, either by politicking their way into a completely unfair position on the table, or even possibly stonewalling the whole plan to get some triviality. Some of them had been hard to bring over to their side so far. This particular one was not.

"The Coalition agrees that, given the nature of power as a requirement for survival, that potentially adding another source of energy to Britain's list of providers could cause a significant energy crisis. To that effect, we would be willing to forswear providing power to anyone outside of our sovereign lands for the entirety of the transitional period. In addition, we had already planned to add our geothermal energy research into the knowledge exchange archives, which would be provided gratis to any of the other providers who would request it. As it is, our plant is certainly not powerful enough to provide energy at the scale required to become a competitor in the national market, and though it could be upgraded, the power provided is sufficient for our land for the time being, and we certainly have other places to spend our resources."

Frisk nodded as Roger relaxed in his chair, and a few other members at the table seemed to deflate a bit as well. Sometimes it seemed to Frisk as though some of these people just enjoyed taking the mickey out of each other. It put many things into context, how the powerful could use such world changing concepts as tools in a private for-kicks-only pissing contest. Frisk added another hash to the 'kept myself from rolling my eyes' count, wondering if the count would end up moving to the next page. Then looking around the table again while the group was working through contract language. Over the course of the meeting, nearly everyone at the table had the chance to air a request, question, or grievance, and nearly all seemed to have come through satisfied. All except for two people. One, a older man in a military uniform (a Lieutenant General by the name of Thomas Grant, Frisk recalled), who seemed to look at everyone in the room with a sort of calm acceptance, and almost a fondness, as though a grandparent to a group of barely behaved children. The second man was a bit of an oddity. First, he was an oddity in the fact that he hadn't actually sat at the table with the rest of them, but instead had himself a chair just off the corner of the table, at a point where he was easily able to view everyone in the room, nearly directly across from Frisk and Papyrus. The other odd thing about him was that he was not on any of the dossier records Frisk had received. For a moment, the man turned towards Papyrus, eyes narrowed, and then he turned his eyes towards...

Frisk blinked, then turned from the painting on the wall to one of the two people who had yet to... wait, two? The general was still there in his chair, but the other one...

Frisk blinked again. Now that was strange. It seemed that anytime Frisk would focus on the man for any extended period of time, the man would... somehow... redirect that attention? It seemed odd that someone like that would be in this meeting, and even less likely that Frisk wouldn't have been informed. This was a new factor, one that needed to be handled carefully. Looking up at the rest of the table, Frisk smiled- it appeared that things with the energy question were still being finalized, but we're nearly there. Frisk turned towards one of the gentleman asking for a clarification on the specific terms the Coalition wanted to use, and while answering, began writing on a piece of paper, sliding the note over to Papyrus, who had been studiously observing and taking notes. Papyrus halted in his note taking and looked down at the note subtly.

_Don't look_

_Man in all black, right of General_

_Uses some kind of magic, can't pay attention_

_May be uninvited guest._

Papyrus looked back to his notes, not even acknowledging the note, though Frisk did feel a slight tapping of a foot against theirs, a pre-approved acknowledgement for the two of them. Given the circumstances, Frisk thought it might be best to deal with this sooner rather than later. Fortunately, an opportunity quickly presented itself for a change in pace. After concluding the power clause, the group adjourned for a five minute break. Though they were unable to leave the room, they had refreshments provided, and a private restroom attached to the conference room was quickly occupied. Frisk watched as General Grant stood, filled up his drink, then returned to his seat at the table. Seeing several opportunities arise at once, Frisk leaned over towards Papyrus.

"Follow my lead, keep an eye on our potential intruder"

Frisk stood, and walked around the table towards the general, Papyrus following. As they passed the man in black, Frisk noticed that he tensed subtly, and followed their path around the room, though his attention seemed to be more on Paps. As they passed the chair, Papyrus swung past Frisk, ostensibly to the refreshment table, but Frisk noticed that it became a good place to observe both Frisk and the stranger several paces behind. Frisk also noticed, with a slight bit of exasperation, that being so focused meant Papyrus forgot to gather the magic allowing the water he took from the table to be digested, and instead the drink ended up going through him and onto the carpet.

"Excuse me, General, but I had noticed that you have been rather silent this whole time." Frisk approached the man with a polite smile, and he looked up from his glass and smiled back with a nod.

"Ambassador. I'm afraid that I'm not as much a man of words as the rest of the people at this table. I admit to being far more a man of action, rather unsuited to rooms like these."

Frisk nodded in commiseration. "To be honest, general, I believe I've spoken aloud more in the last several hours than I have in the last several months combined." both of them shared a laugh at that. "Nevertheless, this treaty will affect everyone in this country, and likely beyond. I want to ensure that as many people as possible are able to air any concerns they may have." seeing the man was clearly paying attention at least, Frisk decided to air one of the particular reasons why they were glad he was here. "I admit one of my greatest fears is that, if something happens to reveal the Coalition to the general public before we all are ready, that fear would rule the day rather than sound minds. The devastation that could be brought upon our people by those who would see us as a threat could be total, and as our military currently numbers a grand total of eight members of an honor guard, only three of whom have actually seen any conflict, we would need to rely on you to protect us if any greater dangers grew." The man frowned a bit at this, but nodded. "I... actually specifically requested Her Majesty that a member of the military were to be present at this negotiation, as I wanted to ensure that any who would be put at risk would have a say in how this would pan out, and in many ways, you would be the ones at most in danger besides us."

The man nodded, then turned his attention to his glass. Swirling the brandy in his glass, he took a slow breath, before he responded. "You must understand, ambassador, the scope of what is happening in this room tonight. These people are deciding not just the fate of not just your people, but in many ways, how this event shapes the world- and this will change the whole world, not just Britain." He looked up at Frisk. "I have served in Her Majesty's army for my entire adult life, and have worked personally on tasks requested by this court on many occasions, on many tasks both mundane and... less so. Over that time, I have come to trust the judgement of the Queen, and those she keeps in her confidence." He glances up at the mirror along the wall nearest him. "And it appears that you, at least, have earned enough of that confidence to have my initial approval." He straightened up and drained his glass, then turned back to Frisk. "However, you are right in saying that having your Coalition exist in Britain would be a danger. As to whether or not the risk that entails is worth the price we may pay... that will be up to you."

Frisk nodded. "Of course. We will do everything we can to ensure the impact to this country is as minimal as possible." they replied, a bit louder than necessary. This worked as Frisk planned, creating a lull in conversation in the room, as everyone's focus partially shifted towards the two of them. Looking up at the glass, then at Papyrus, who ever so slightly nodded, boney hands tensing slightly, Frisk then slowly turned around to the man in the chair behind them, looking him straight in the eyes. "And what about you, sir? I'm afraid I am unsure as to your name. What can we do for you?"

At Frisk's direct address of the man, several things happened in quick succession. First, it seemed that the direct address broke whatever had kept their attention away from him, as suddenly not only was Frisk better able to pay attention to the stranger, but apparently everyone else in the room was able to do so as well, given the rather surprised reactions from the rest of the room. Frisk felt rather than saw the general rise from his chair beside them, angry words on his lips. The man himself was completely taken by surprise by Frisks direct address, but recovered fairly quickly, swiftly standing and whipping... something out from his sleeve. The man pointed it at Frisk and twitched his arm, and suddenly a red beam flew towards them. Frisk, however, was faster than the man, and the beam flew past and into a pile of papers on the conference table, scattering them everywhere. The man, however, didn't stop there, swiftly swinging his wand towards the approaching General, another red light striking the man, who stumbled into the stranger, falling near his feet before rolling away. The distraction he provided was enough for Frisk, however, who struck out with a foot in a swift kick, knocking the weapon out of the man's hand. The man scowled at Frisk, then began to turn on his heel, Frisk assumed to flee, when suddenly he began to glow a slight blue and stumbled. The man turned his head around confused, and then centered his focus on Papyrus, whose hand was extended towards the apparently hostile man, eye glowing in it's socket. He then turned back to Frisk with a gaze that burned with hate, and spoke, his voice sounding gravelly and distorted. "Your use of such dark magic is noted, criminal. This Inferius is clearly holding me here using your power. Release me or suffer further consequences."

This confused Frisk in a way that they hadn't felt in some time. Magic? As far as they were aware, the only magic that existed was the magic possessed by monsters...

"CONSEQUENCES OR NOT, UNKNOWN HUMAN, YOU SHALL NOT BE RELEASED UNTIL IT IS PROVEN YOU ARE NOT A THREAT TO THOSE AT THIS TABLE." Papyrus apparently felt such questions could be answered later, it seemed. The man turned to face the skeleton with a glare.

"You dare! I will destroy-urk!" The man's threat, along with the hand reaching into his pocket, froze, as in addition to the blue glow, the man found his neck surrounded by a circle of bones pressing delicately against his throat. Frisk smirked at the predicament the stranger found himself in.

"I suggest you refrain from moving too far, sir. Though Papyrus normally isn't the sort to cause people harm, he is very defensive of his friends. It would be best if, for the time being, you remain as still as possible."

"Indeed" A new, yet familiar voice, rang through the chamber, causing everyone else to look up in surprise. Frisk, turned to the side as, with a strong sounding click, the mirror along the wall seemed to change, and the room beyond it lit up, Queen Elizabeth herself coming into view on the other side, along with several guards and aides, weapons all trained at the apparent intruder. "We appreciate how effectively you have contained this threat, ambassador, guardsman. We find ourselves concerned, however, that a threat could have known about this meeting at all, much less been in attendance." She turned to one of the gentlemen, who had a sidearm drawn and pointed at the man. "Mister Stanford, do you recognize this person as someone your department would be aware of?" Frisk took a sidelong glance at Dennis Stanford, representative to the table from the various security departments, who stepped towards the man, glancing only momentarily down at the object the man had dropped, as well as the man's face. He seemed to be fighting with what to say, glancing back and forth between his Queen, the slowly recovering crowd, and the mystery assailant.

"No, your majesty. The weapon is... known to us, but the person is not. That being said, people with his... particular abilities... tend to-" he seemed to falter for words, less as though he didn't know the answer, and more that he didn't wish to explain the answer.

"Oh for God's sake, Denny, quit beating around the bush, everyone in this room should be cleared to this now anyway." To Frisk's relief, the General climbed to his feet, a hand supporting a bloody shoulder, but apparently sound enough to be quite irate with the uninvited guest. "That's a wand, this fool's a bloody wizard, and I've just been injured on palace grounds, again." He turned to Frisk with a nod, before continuing. "Your majesty, I formally request that all of the members of this body, and the esteemed ambassador and assistant, of course, be considered officially cleared for knowledge of classification Emrys, so that we can deal with this ruffian quickly and move on."

The queen nodded at one of her attendants who immediately bolted out of the observation room, and to another who quickly proceeded through a door hidden along the wall, med kit in hand, and proceeded to assist the injured man. "Of course, general. Considering the subject matter of this evening's discussion, we do not see any reason to further restrict knowledge that has clearly become relevant." The queen faced the intruder directly, walking up to the edge of the glass. "Regardless, this man is certainly a criminal, guilty of any number of violations of British law-"

"We do not recognize any of your laws in these circumstances" the man interrupted the Queen, who simply proceeded as if she had not heard.

"-in addition to violating any number of currently valid treaties. You will be detained until we can ascertain your motives in infiltrating this meeting, and then will be tried and sentenced for your crimes as appropriate."

The man simply scoffed. "You have no authority over me, you filthy muggle. Once I am released I will ensure-"

The Queen, who had been observing the proceedings with a calm air, darkened her countenance as his words continued. Turning to Papyrus, she nodded at him, simply saying, "if you would..." Papyrus' smile grew a bit, and one of the bones raised up, and the man was silenced as he was struck firmly in the back of the head, and he slumped to the ground. "Thank you, mister Papyrus, he was becoming quite a bore to listen to." Frisk could swear she smirked, just a bit, but it might have been imagined. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we apologize for the interruption to the proceedings. We will have this unexpected guest removed in a moment, and you can conclude this meeting." She then turned to Frisk and nodded. Frisk returned the nod with a smile and a bow. As three men came through the side door with a pair of handcuffs and a rather heavy looking set of chains, the light in the observation room dimmed until there was just a mirror remaining. While the man was shackled and hauled out of the room, still unconscious, the rest of the people in the room returned to their places on the table, except for the general, who instead walked over to Frisk and Papyrus first.

"General," Frisk said as he approached. "I hope you are not too badly injured. I am sorry I was unable to get to the assailant fast enough to prevent him from using his... magic?" Frisk tilted their head as they spoke the word. Now that the excitement was gone, the thought of humans being able to use magic seemed to swiftly push itself to the forefront of Frisks personal questions. The general seemed to sense this, and laid a hand on their shoulder.

"Don't fret over it at the moment, ambassador. Suffice it to say, a small portion of people on this earth were born with... rather special talents. People of his type are one of a few groups that are able to use what we would traditionally term 'magic'. The number of people who don't have such talents but know about them anyway are further fewer still, so it's no surprise you were unaware. Good catch spotting the blighter, though. Most people wouldn't have been able to even see him, including me admittedly. And the fact that you stood up to him when you could have fled was something as well." He frowned for a moment, then nodded. "We may have to work out details at a later date, but as far as I am concerned, you have my full support in your endeavour." He held out his hand to Frisk, who gladly shook it with a beaming smile. The man smiled back, then grimaced. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go get this arm looked at a bit closer. Not as young as I used to be it seems." And with that, he said his farewells to the table, and left with an aide. Frisk sat down, shocked at the turn of events. It took just a moment however, to come to an even better realization. With General Grant on their side... it meant that everyone was on board! Frisk couldn't help but smile again, settling down at the table preparing for the conversations to resume. Not long now, and the Underground could truly consider themselves free.

==oo00**00oo==

It took another hour, and a few minor concessions, but in the end it was done. The final draft of the document was completed, and a schedule was set for a private signing of the document in four days time, pending final review by Her Majesty. Frisk was nearly giddy as the rest of the members departed, hands being shaken and personal business spoken of before retiring for the evening. Bidding the final member of the table good evening, Frisk looked up to find Paps walking in their direction. "I MUST SAY, FRISK, THIS WAS THE MOST ENGAGING AND... EXHAUSTING PUZZLE I HAVE YET TO PARTICIPATE IN CREATING!" Frisk laughed openly at the joke, and Papyrus chucked. "YOU HAVE TRULY ACCOMPLISHED A WONDERFUL THING HERE TONIGHT FRISK, PERHAPS ONE OF THE GREATEST IN OUR HISTORY. NOW, I BELIEVE IT BEST THAT WE BOTH GO HOME AND RECOVER!" Seeing as it was nearly eleven at night, Frisk couldn't help but agree, the last few hours had been quite a marathon. After being escorted back to their entryway by Jean (who also extracted a promise for further conversations about Frisk's newfound love life (blush blush awkward mumble blush)) Papyrus took Frisk by the shoulder and stepped backwards towards home.

Now Papyrus had learned to perform the same feat of 'shortcutting' his brother was so fond of using by accident once, when he accidentally backed himself off the roof while shoveling snow off of one of the buildings at the campground. He panicked and ended up triggering a shortcut to right above his old racecar shaped bed, breaking it in several pieces upon landing. This little surprise led to Sans teaching his brother how to properly shortcut (as well as facilitating the purchase of his new castle loft bed). He found afterwards, though, that he wasn't actually able to perform the transit without walking backwards. He also found that he usually ended up falling over when the transport completed. This particular time was no exception, as he found himself sprawled on the ground, Frisk standing next to him giggling at his predicament. The two of them brushed themselves off, and walked through the short path to the main camp.

As they approached, Frisk winked at Paps, steeled their expression, and slowed their walk as they approached the central grounds. As they neared, the found nearly all of the Underground gathered around the campfire, along with a good number of the human campers. One of them spotted the two of them approaching, and the rest were quickly informed. The crowd hushed as the two of them approached silently, the circle opening up allowing them passage to the center. They arrived and stood in front of the fire, silently staring forward. From the other side of the flames, his countenance contrasting to the rather festive floral shirt he was wearing at the moment. Papyrus stepped aside with a bow to the king, sliding back a few paces, not quite joining the crowd, who still looked on in anticipation.

For a moment, the two of them stood there silently, the fire crackling between them. Not a word was spoken by anyone in the crowd. After a beat, the king spoke.

"Ambassador Frisk. You have returned from your mission of goodwill."

Frisk's face remained impassive. "Yes, your majesty."

"You have delivered the request for a formal treaty between our peoples and the peoples of the surface to Queen Elizabeth and her advisors, then?"

Frisk nodded slightly. "I have done so, your majesty. She has reviewed it, and per your orders, there was a negotiation of terms."

The king's face tightened slightly. "And... and the results of this negotiation? Were... were you successful?" his next words were nearly whispered, yet were heard by everyone present. "Will... will we be free?"

Frisk stood silently for a moment and looked down, the crowd collectively held their breath, waiting for the response from their friend, their savior. When Frisk looked up, however, it wasn't with a stoic expression.

When Frisk looked up, it was with a teary eyed smile, a smile that lit up the campsite nearly as much as the fire.

"Yes." it was quiet, but booming. Whispered, yet echoed through the hills.

"Yes!"

"YOU WILL BE FREE!" In that moment, hundreds of voices, of all types and creeds, all cried out, in relief, in triumph, in joy, in victory. In that moment, the sound of happiness was nearly a tangible thing, draping itself around the crowd and warming the cool night air in a way no fire ever could.

In that moment, a people celebrated an end, and a beginning.

==oo00**00oo==

The celebration continued for hours after the announcement became public, though Frisk stepped away from it after the witching hour, the long day finally beginning to catch up to them. Saying goodbyes to most of the monsters, Frisk walked away from the revelry and towards the lake, a few monsters following behind. The group walked in silence, Frisk nodding to a slightly worn looking up happy Undyne (apparently Alphys had been gone for most of the day on some errand) and bumping shoulders with MK, who had wandered up beside them with a smile. Glad for the company, Frisk wrapped an arm around his side, pulling him close while they walked. Approaching the dock alongside the lake, Frisk and MK lowered themselves down on the waterside, feet dangling over the dock edge. The comfortable silence hung in the air for a bit, permeated by the sounds of celebration still drifting across the camp. After a moment, a voice from behind them spoke.

"You know, when we first exited the underground, and made it to the surface, I couldn't help but think that the world had become more beautiful than even the stories I remembered my grandfather tell me so long ago. I would have thought that the beauty that often becomes exaggerated in tall tales and stories would dwarf the actual beauty of the surface. Now twice I have been proven wrong. First, when you led us out of darkness." Frisk looked up at King Asgore, who had taken a place on the far end of the dock past them, looking out at the moonlight over the lake. "The second... is right now. Looking at these stars... as a free monster, truly free, for the first time that i have known."

"It is indeed, something to behold, isn't it?" Toriel's voice drifted towards them from the other direction, as she approached from the shoreline towards them. "I think it gets better every time I look, truly. We've been given a wonderful chance to start a new life." If anything, Asgore's smile grew even wider.

"It is that, isn't it? It even gives us a chance to give back to this world, something else I am grateful for."

Frisk nodded at this, leaning into MK just a bit closer. "We all should have a chance to make our own futures. I'm glad I was able to help give everyone here the chance to do so."

MK, in a moment of introspection it seemed, replied "Kids stories always talk about things like second chances and lessons. I've read so many books where monsters... or humans... don't use those chances. I don't really want to end up like that, having a chance to make things better and not taking it."

Asgore turned and walked towards them. "Well said, child. I know I, for one, intend to use this gift to it's fullest." Stopping by the three of them, he nodded to Frisk. "I thank you once more, Frisk, for this chance you have given me... given all of us. But for now, I think the best way to use it, is to return home and get some rest. There is still much to be done. Sleep well, all of you." Looking up at Toriel, he placed a paw on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze and a smile. Toriel smiled back and nodded in acknowledgement. Frisk smiled at the two of them, glad they had been able to resolve their differences. It was probably never going to be a possibility for them to be a couple again, but they had taken the time, partly at Frisk's insistence, to resolve their differences enough to at least be civil to one another, and that had blossomed into a deep friendship, something that Toriel had noted was the one thing she truly missed from their old relationship. Bidding the group goodnight, Asgore walked down the dock and back towards shore. For a moment, the group continued to look out over the lake, but then some sort of disturbance back towards the camp drew their attention. Frisk looked up and saw a group heading in their direction rather quickly led by...

" **Kiiiiid! Kiiiiiid!"** Frisk stood up surprised. It had been ages since Sans had used that particular title, at Frisk's insistence. He had actually promised not to... what possibly could make him...

Sans half ran half stumbled onto the dock, holding his knees and panting, sweat pouring from the top of his skull. He tried to talk, but only managed to gasp out something completely unintelligible.

"Sans, calm down! What's going on?" Looking up, Frisk noticed the group that was following him had caught up. Undyne was being held back (sort of) by Alphys, who was clearly trying to get her to not be as... murdery... as she currently appeared. Papyrus was clearly concerned about his brother, of course. And Asgore apparently had come over, concerned about the situation. While Sans continued to pant on the ground, Frisk turned to the group. "Would one of you know what exactly has caused Sans to exert himself?"

It was Alphys who responded. "S-s-sorry, Frisk. We-I-I mean Sans and I... we found something b-back at the Lab today. We-well Sans found it really, and I was just brought in as an assistant really and I wasn't sure what exactly was happening at first because he just kind of took me to the lab without telling anyone which is why Undyne is so angry at Sans though she shouldn't be because it was important and-"

"Alphys, calm down!" Asgore was the one who stepped forward, placing his paws on both Undyne and Alphys' shoulders. Both relaxed after a moment, and the Alphys took a deep breath.

"We... we found that something was happening. Happening to the underground... Happening... to Determination."

At that, three faces darkened. Before anyone could say anything else, Alphys continued.

"We werent sure at first what was happening, and were worried, which was why we were gone so long today. We needed to ensure noone was in danger. We... thing we've isolated the source of the issue... but to do it... we... we need..." Alphys hesitated, and Frisk frowned. What help could they possibly need in the underground?

" **We need you to try and reset.** " The mood, if it wasn't tense before, suddenly became cold. Frisk turned to the skeleton, eyes nearly glowing with fury.

"How. Dare. You." Frisk walked up right into the skeletons face. "You would sacrifice all this? Everything we've worked for? The whole of this year, the treaty? There is nothing that could be worth this, nothing!"

Sans didn't move from his spot, eyes locked onto Frisks. " **Kid, if I thought there was any other way, I wouldn't be here. This could mean everything, more than everything, and affect more things than you know.** " his eye sockets glowed, but his gaze didn't waver. " **If... you do this for me, kid, not actually reset, just... check, just... go to the void, that... place. If you do that for me... I consider us even.** "

Frisk's fists clench. How dare Sans bring that into this conversation.

But... he had a right to. Memories flashed in Frisks mind...

" _ **If we're really friends, you won't come back..."**_

" _I don't know what's happening, Sans... I can't control it sometimes... I... just want to be free... but..."_

" _ **Kid, you're asking more than I really am able to give... But in the end... I think you're the best shot we've got. You'll owe me for this though...**_ _"_

Turning away from Sans, Frisk wiped the tears from their eyes, and summoned forth the willpower to bring about the end of the world. Half turning to the skeleton, the only thing they could say was, "With this, we're even. I hope you know what you're doing."

Then... blackness. The void... and two buttons, the true terror in this world.

***Continue *Reset**

Reaching down, hand shaking, Frisk touched the Reset button.

... but nothing happened.

Frisk frowned. Was something wrong? Looking down at the button, they couldn't help but gasp, as both buttons seemed to fade away. The cursed markings that had, for so long, slowly turning into dust, and the void, the terrible terrible void faded away, to show a group of astonished monsters gathered around. Frisk fell to their knees, MK, quickly running over to help provide support. Alphys, looking almost disbelieving... in a shakier voice than normal was the first to speak.

"Wh...what happened?"

Frisk could only stare at their hands, the dust vanishing before their eyes even as they breathed their second breath of air. Air, that felt like a freedom that, even after all that had happened, was until that very moment truly unattainable.

"It's... it's gone."

" **He... heh... hehheh..."**

It started slowly. First a chuckle... then a laugh... and then Sans was practically bouncing. Laughing and dancing, the skeleton cheered and bounced with the exuberance of one of the campers on a sugar rush. After a moment, he proceeded to run around the group and celebrating, starting with Frisk, who could do nothing but stand there shocked as Sans lifted them completely off the ground in a hug. It wasn't long before each of the other members of the group got an enthusiastic greeting, from a smiling and tearful Alphys, to a shocked Undyne, to an even more shocked Papyrus. He even, to everyone's surprise, planted a kiss on Toriel's cheek that made her blush profusely, before running off towards the party, laughing and yelling about freedom.

The rest of the group stood frozen for a moment, not knowing how to proceed. Undyne was the first to break the silence.

"Wellllll... that was interest-"

"WooHoo!" This time, it was Alphys who interrupted with a cheer, turning to hug Undyne hard enough to surprise her, then pulling her away babbling in scientific terminology that only she could understand. Asgore turned to follow them, clearly interested in what Alphys was saying, if unable to understand it. MK was the next to speak.

"Um... Frisk, are you alright?" He leaned down towards Frisk, who looked up at him with a teary eyed smile.

"Oh, MK. I can safely say that, for the first time in a very long time, I am more than alright. I... didn't think I could ever be this alright." And like a shot, Frisk's arms wrapped around MKs neck in a tight hug, and the two promptly fell over in a heap on the ground, laughing.

Toriel, blush still coloring her cheeks looked from the children to Papyrus, who hadn't moved from the spot he had been, leaning around to look at his face, she found that he was crying, looking towards where his brother had left. She frowned. "Oh my... Papyrus, are you okay? You appear to be crying."

Papyrus jumped a bit at being addressed directly, then turned to Toriel. "OH, AM I?" he wiped a tear from his face. "IT'S JUST... WELL. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT JUST HAPPENED, AND I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT IT... BUT... I DON'T THINK I'VE SEEN MY BROTHER THAT HAPPY IN YEARS, MANY MANY YEARS. THE LAST TIME... I THINK IT WAS WHEN WE WERE BOTH STILL VERY YOUNG..." He wiped his eyes and turned to Toriel. "IT TRULY MAKES ME HAPPY TO KNOW THAT HE CAN STILL LAUGH LIKE THAT."

==oo00**00oo==

Next chapter: "Do you have any idea how hard it is to navigate in this forest without a map? Why don't you try navigating for a change?" "I'm a flower, idiot, the best you'll get from me is which way the sun is right now."


	13. Camp I-Don't-Even-Know Part One: The Clearing

Disclaimer. **drop mic**

==oo00**00oo==

The first night was actually quite calm and peaceful for the two of them.

"Woah." Flowey, even in his current state, couldn't help but be extremely impressed by the sight before him.

"Yeah. Wicked, isn't it? It wasn't until after I started Hogwarts that I knew how many stars were really out there."

Harry and Flowey had managed to make it down off the mountain over the course of the day after stepping out into the light, but not much farther. As the sun set, they decided that it would be best to stop off for the night, so they set camp on the edge of a clearing in the shadow of Mt. Ebott, setting up the surprisingly sturdy tent and a sleeping bag. After lighting a small fire and cooking some dinner, the two of them just sat up, watching the stars for a while.

"Hey, Asriel?"

The flower remained silent, just looking up with an unreadable expression. Harry reached over and poked him and he started.

"Huh? Whaddya want?"

"I was just wondering if you... if you wanted to... um... stretch your... legs?" Harry awkwardly asked, scratching the back of his head. "I mean... if you wanted, I could take you out of the bag."

Flowey frowned at his travelling companion. "You know, if you did that I could just run off, right? I could just... disappear. There's no way you'd be able to find me now that we're out here."

Harry continued to look up at the stars for a moment before replying. "Well, you could have done that already, if you really wanted to. I know you could probably get out of the bag now and I... don't think I would stop you, even if i could. I get it, being stuck is just... bad." He turned to Flowey, looking back at him from the top of his rucksack. "But... I think you and I are heading in the same direction... whatever direction that may be." He reached over and undid the strap securing Flowey to the top of the bag. "Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I kept you tied up in a sack?" Flowey smirked at this, and after a moment, nodded to Harry, who helped the flower out of his rucksack and onto the ground beside the tent. Flowey slowly sunk his various vines into the ground and settled in, yet another odd look on his face. Harry frowned at that. "What? Ground feel strange here?"

Flowey chuckled at that. "No, it's just... different. It's like... You drink water from the tap in the kitchen for long enough, and then you take a drink from a river. Technically it's all just water right? But... there's always something there that makes it taste different. It's kind of the same... just... new dirt, right? Still, it's something."

Harry nodded, he could understand that very well. The two of them looked at the stars for a while longer, talking about nonsensical things for a while, until Harry decided it was time to turn in for the night.

"So... do you... need to sleep? Not sure if we need to talk about taking watch or not" Flowey rolled his eyes at Harry's question.

"Don't worry about it. I don't really need to sleep much, so I'll keep watch at night. You'll have to keep carrying me during the day to make up for it though."

Harry grinned at his friend. "I can agree to that...long as you don't put on anymore weight." Then he ducked into his tent to the sound of various hurled insults, small stones, and the occasional stick.

==oo00**00oo==

The second day was a bit more trying than the first day.

"What do you mean, you've seen that tree before? They're all trees, how can you tell?"

"Hey, flower, remember? I can tell trees apart!" Harry just raised an eyebrow at that. "What? I can... mostly. Anyway it doesn't matter, what matters is that we've spent the last three hours walking in circles!"

"Well I'm doing the best I can considering the circumstances. Do you have any idea how hard it is to navigate in this forest without a map? Why don't you try navigating for a change?"

Flowey just stared at him. "I'm a flower, idiot, the best you'll get from me is which way the sun is right now. Anyway, don't you have your magic whatever? You found me, it shouldn't be that much harder to find a straight friggin line."

Harry sighed. "I tried this morning while we were walking. It seems that anything I try to focus on... it just gets muddled. It could be that all the landmarks I'm looking for are too far away. I don't even know where we are relative to anything else I know, so it's hard to find a start point."

Flowey frowned at that. "Huh... what about a direction, can you just have it point you North or something?"

Harry paused for a moment, then facepalmed. "Ugh. Of course." Standing up, Harry gathered his will, and focused on the staff like he did in the underground.

_Point me, North._

The magic shuddered, and the magic seemed to shift direction, first one way, then the other. Harry had to focus, for some reason, the spell just didn't seem to respond as it should. Nothing in the books he was reading said anything specific about magic reacting like this; a failed point me should simply not work when cast. Pushing just a bit more effort into the spell, finally, something seemed to snap into place, causing Harry to smile.

"So?" Flowey mumbled impatiently from his pack.

"I think we have a direction now." Harry said, taking off North through the clearing.

==oo00**00oo==

Two hours later, Harry wasn't sure if they had a direction anymore.

"You've got to be KIDDING me!" And clearly Flowey wasn't helping. Harry was certainly no less annoyed, however.

"You saw me cast the spell, right? Did I do something wrong?"

Flowey looked like he was going to say something acerbic, but controlled himself. "No, each time you did the exact same thing. We kept going in the direction it was pointing, but we still ended up right back where we started!"

Flowey immediately started to grumble and complain, however Harry frowned. He was certain that, not only did they end up in the same clearing, but they ended up going into the same clearing from the same direction... which was odd, even for Harry's standards. He voiced this to Flowey, who stopped. Looking around, he shook his head.

"I can't tell for sure... Hmmm" He frowned. "It may be just your imagination, or possibly some sort of woodland surface madness, really." He paused for a moment. "There is a way to be sure something fishy isn't going on though. Check for North again." Harry did so, and again, as before, it was pointing towards the center of the clearing, Flowey nodded. "Okay, now check for South."

Harry nodded, turned around, gathered his magic and cast. It took a moment again, but he felt the magic snap into place and point the way.

Right back into the center of the clearing.

"Okaaaay, now that's odd."

==oo00**00oo==

They spent the next hour walking around the outside of the clearing, testing Harry's magic, and nearly every spell he was able to cast, seemed to drift it's way towards the center of the clearing. Flowey's friendship pellets seemed to do the same, much to his surprise. The two of them then tried wandering out of the clearing without the use of magical directions, and found about an hour later that they ended up in the same clearing again. With the sun setting on their second day, however, they realized they couldn't do much else. Lighting a fire on the edge of the clearing, the two settled down for an uneasy dinner. The stars were as dazzling as they were the night before, but neither of them paid much attention. Keeping a watchful eye on the clearing, the two of them sat close to each other, Harry half wrapped up in his blanket on a fallen log, Flowey nearly attached to the log next to him. Occasionally, one or the other would jump from a sound, real or imagined, but nothing would come from it.

After a while, Flowey just sighed. "Ugh, this is ridiculous, we're being babies about this, just shivering in a corner, there's absolutely no reason that-"

==oo00**0oo==

The grim smelled something... New in the air. At first, it was excited, maybe it was new prey? He had been well fed so far thanks to the plethora of animals in this new place, but he knew he couldn't stay long. This wasn't home, or at least it wasn't where he wanted to make a home. There was food, but no real hunting. There was no pack, either, and he longed for pack. This smell, something new, something... that didn't smell like prey. Like a tree, but with... something else. It was worth pursuing. He followed the scent, wandering in circles around the mountain, as the day waned and the sun set. Not long after dark, he finally caught up to his quarry, sitting around a low flame. He could smell the animal better now. The strange smelling animal with the strange smelling plant. The animal would make noises, then the plant, or vice versa. It was odd to the Grim, as plants don't speak, but that didn't matter. The smell from the animal... he recognized what that was. It was the smell of pack! Normally pack is other dogs, but this animal smells like pack, and it's not prey, so it must be pack! Resolved to meet his pack, the Grim stepped out from the woods, and trotted towards the animal and the plant.

"...just shivering in a corner, there's absolutely no reason thatAAAUGHWHATTHEHECKISTHAT!"

==oo00**00oo==

Next week: "Oh no! Absolutely not! I hate dogs!" "That is not a dog. That is a Grim." "I don't care what you call it! It has four legs and pees on flowers!"


	14. Interlude: Cross-Species Communication via Baked Goods

Disclaimer: Do not eat.

Other Disclaimers: See chapter 1

==oo00**00oo==

Long after the campers had been sent off to bed, the lights in the mess kitchens sprung to life again, as Muffet came in with the evening staff to begin the next day's baking, Muffet and her crew actually preferred this to working with the children during the daytime, partially because having full unrestricted access to the kitchen gave the night staff more freedom to cook creatively. Also, it was easier to avoid overlong explanations to many of the other students as to why they had to avoid their steps while in the mess hall, as the overwhelming majority of the night staff were, in fact, spiders. In fact, their participation in the culinary preparation for the campers basically required Muffet to accept this particular prerequisite, which she of course understood. Monsters often were somewhat uncomfortable around spiders, and given the resident spider loving human's reactions, she felt it would be best to slowly reveal the fact that some species of spiders were, in fact, sentient, rather than simply come out and greet everyone. Such is the price that must be paid for eventual freedom, and fair prices were something Muffet understood very well.

Walking through the kitchens and performing the heavier startup tasks for her little workers, Muffet found herself musing on recent events more than usual this particular night. It had been nearly a year since the barrier had been broken, and about six months since the last of her clans had finally relocated past the barrier permanently. She had to hand it to Frisk, the little human's ingenuity was surprising even to Muffet - their efficient handling of the barrier, and the simple fact that they supported spiders, helped push the donations to her cause of spider relocation well past its goal. It was a shame the child refused payment for their services, Muffet thought to herself with a smile and a shake of her head. The child would learn, sooner or later, that accepting payment for services rendered was only appropriate, even with a kind heart it is always in everyone's best interests to have every resource available. Far be it from Muffet, however, to leave debts unpaid, accepted or not, that was a staple of Muffet's business acumen neither she nor the Muffets before her would compromise. She knew that even her time was nearing it's end, with a lifespan currently passing a century and a half, she had lasted nearly twice as long as the last Muffet, before the calling came to spawn the next generation of spider leadership.

As her hands worked deftly to perform some of the final preparation tasks of the evening, her mind drifted to her own youth. She was born, as were all Muffets, in the last year of her mother's life, after months of careful selection of proper breeding stock and a few generational adjustments. Much to her mother's satisfaction, she was born significantly stronger, healthier, and more intelligent than the previous generation, a near perfect example of the selection process perfected over a dozen earlier generations of Muffets. Her mother, a bit more of a mystic than she, would often tell her that it meant that great things would be happening to the world around her during her life - nature often knew and prepared for these things well in advance. Muffet would scoff at this, of course, as a daughter should when her mother spoke of things a child couldn't quite understand, and her mother would chuckle and simply continue their lessons, as a mother should when their daughter was being the very child they should be.

She remembered that first year in such little moments, separated by a blur of lessons and study. The first year of her life was spent almost entirely in lessons, as the history of the clans, and the history of the Muffets, was effectively crammed into her brain. Biologically, Muffets began to rapidly age and die after the birth of their true progeny, so it was necessary for mother Muffets to teach their daughters quickly. Studies on politics, business, science, history, and many other subjects, all drilled and studied. " _Spiders have several advantages over other species_ " her mother told her once " _having such short lifespans, we have learned the importance of maximizing potential, and being generally overlooked when we remain hidden, we often are able to observe far more than many other species. Our collection of knowledge and learning is in many ways more vast than any other collection in the Underground. You should use this knowledge, my child, to the fullest of your potential, as the Muffets before you have, as I have. Each Muffet has given something back to the clans, both by the talents they choose to develop, and by the knowledge they choose to gather. You must learn, my daughter, what your contribution will be. That is the greatest skill I can teach you, and if you are able to perform such a task, dearie, I will consider this particular venture a great success._ "

As Muffet flipped a final set of switches, turning on the lights in the stockroom for her staff, she smiled to herself. Her mother would have been proud of her, she thought. Through fate and fortune, assisted by her not insignificant acumen, she was now in the position to have the greatest potential of any Muffet since before the barrier went up in the first place. Waving her kitchen staff into action for the night, Muffet took a few moments to walk over to the stove and gather up her teapot before moving from the kitchens to her quarters, settling down for a moment, taking a deep breath, savoring the aroma of her new tea (she had taken to collecting new and interesting teas from the surface, which fortunately the local human population seems to appreciate as much as she, this one was something called darjeeling) and taking a sip with a satisfied smile. Then she set her tea down, and beckoned over the groups of spiders that had been patiently waiting to the side. Seeing their queen's command, several spiders came skittering forward, some carrying handwritten letters, others carrying items collected from the surface. Knowing their queen's preferences, the spiders arranged themselves in order of least important to most important, and brought their documents forward.

The first few were relatively trivial items, Muffet noticed, reports on the status of their kitchen (both personal and camp-wide) and any needed items. One of her hands signed a couple of stock orders to be processed, changing a quantity here, a quality there. This particular piece of her work had become so ingrained it became almost habit for her, but her keen eye would occasionally point out a flaw or two One of which she spotted near the end of the documents.

"Oh dear, it seems we may be getting overcharged on some of our food prices. Do me a favor, and take a team to do some looking into our vegetable prices, would you? We wouldn't want our beloved campers to have to eat unhealthy because our vegetables were too expensive now, would we?" She giggled to herself as the spider gathered a small group and scuttled off. A few more minutes of handling day to day matters, and she had dismissed most of the group to their next tasks. Turning finally to the remaining spiders, she nodded, and one came forward with a small batch of documents. Muffet smiled, with the secrecy still required to keep the underground coalition safe, it had been rather taxing to begin to establish a business foothold on the surface. However, with persistence, and a lot of... positive reinforcement in the right places, the various anonymous trusts and shell companies were nearly in place for actual business interests to grow, interests that she knew would be critical to maintaining legitimacy once people knew about their existence. She felt satisfied that only a handful of beings other than her spiders knew about what she was doing, not even Frisk, though she guessed the clever little human at least suspected, based on snippets of the treaty clauses she had been informed about through her sources.

That child was really clever enough to be a spider, Muffet thought to herself with a grin, as she reached for the next document. She had just begun reading an informational document on the strength of the human military when a group of spiders rushed in through the side entrance, waving their notice in a flurry of legs. Muffet frowned at the group. "Now now, dearies. I know you may be excited, but no matter how important your news is, protocol must be followed." The spiders immediately stopped waving about, but didn't seem to lose their nervous energy. Muffet, smiled at her children; "good enough, I suppose. Now, what has you this interested?" she asked as she reached out to grasp the missive. The spiders all stilled as she read. For the first few lines, her expression was curious, then a raised eyebrow. As she continued to read, the second eyebrow joined the first. In a moment she put the paper down, her shock and surprise settled shortly into her trademark smile. She turned to the group of spiders that had brought the missive, and, in a rare show of appreciation, bent down to kiss the top of the lead spider's head. "Thank you for this, my child. You are truly a strong anchor for all of my children, and you should know so." The tiny spider shivered, and nearly collapsed, but instead shook itself off and simply radiated with joy at the thought of pleasing it's mother so. Muffet patted it gently, then stood with purpose, sending an alarm to all team leads to come to a meeting. In moments, all appropriate parties had been gathered.

Standing before her children, the spiders were in awe of the regal queen they saw before them. Many generations of Muffets ago, the king and queen of the monsters had come to an agreement with the spiders, one in which though Muffets were given general autonomy, they still respected the laws of the land set out by the Monsters. It was easy to see, in this moment, why such leniency was given to the spiders, for Muffet held herself as surely and as strongly as any royal could possibly be.

"My children, today I have been sent word from some of our farthest scouting teams. These teams have seen many things, from the growth and beauty of the human spirit, to the power and vastness of the human mind's potential. They have seen Humans create wonders, and destroy them. And all using the technology built through human ingenuity, with steel and electricity and strength, they have given us an example to follow, and we are making plans to do so as we speak. But today, children... today I have received a different word. It seems, that we have found a place, far in the northern reaches of this island, that is home to humans... with magic." This sent a silent but agitated stirring through the group. Muffet quickly silenced her children with soothing words. "Fear not, my children. Many of the stories of the Magus passed down and told by the monsters are of course not based in any truth. Even my own mother passed down few tales of their deeds, both great and terrible. However, regardless of what we know or do not know, this is a particular opportunity we cannot let pass us by, so we will be commissioning a fact finding and diplomatic expedition immediately. One that I shall be accompanying personally."

This sent another wave of shock through her children. Though they certainly trusted her judgement, they did often feel protective of their mother-queen. It was rather adorable, if Muffet was being honest. "None of that, dearies. This particular meeting will require particulars that need my personal attention. But we shall leave prepared, of course." She quickly began waving teams away to being preparations. "You two, take your teams and prepare the automation of the kitchens, we will leave them staffed, but I will be unable to supervise directly. You, take your team and gather the supplies we will need for our particular journey... and you, go wake my little pet." She turned around towards her desk to start writing a letter to Frisk, who would need to be kept informed of this particular venture, her smile turning into a rather dangerous looking smirk.

"I think it's time we renew some old family ties."

==oo00**00oo==


	15. Camp I-Don't-Even-Know Part 2: The Counselors?

Disclaimer: _The Disclaimer of the first part shall be herefore known as the Disclaimer of the first part._

==oo00**00oo==

The wizard and the goat-flower had gotten very little sleep that night.

Between the odd reaction of magic around the grove, the fact that they were effectively isolated in this remote location, and the large dog like, sharp toothed animal currently sitting on the other side of the fire, neither of the travellers honestly felt like sleeping that night anyway. Most of the evening was spent huddled by the fire, ensuring that the flames were both well kept, and directly between them and the potentially dangerous animal that had apparently decided to make camp with them. The grim, of course, didn't seem to pay their fear any mind, and after a few minutes of shuffling around the campsite, a sort of stalemate was reached. The dog would sit on one side of the flames, looking at them curiously, would sniff the air, turn to the woods for a moment, then return to it's vigil. Harry and Asriel basically spent the entire evening some combination of confused and terrified at the clearly dangerous animal apparently deciding that it wanted to spend time by the fire with them.

"This is getting ridiculous. Why won't it just go away? Or eat us, or do... i don't know, something!?" Flowey complained, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes. The annoyed tone in his voice didn't quite cover the fear that lingered there, however. Harry shook his head a bit to clear his mind and frowned.

"I have no idea. I'm beginning to think that it just wants to be here for some reason."

"Well of course it does, idiot! It wants dinner, and we're basically caught in a trap here, easy pickings."

Harry shook his head again, a bit more firm this time. "I don't think so actually. I remember seeing a documentary on wolves once when I was younger. They tend to hunt in packs, and I don't see any other signs of wolves out here. Also they don't just wait like this if they were going to eat us anyway. If we were going to be dinner, it would have already attacked."

Asriel picked up a small rock and tossed it at the beast with a vine. "Well then it should probably just go away to wherever it came from!" The rock, of course, was too small to do much of anything, and the grim just looked at the pair, head tilted to the side. Despite the situation, Harry found himself giggling at this particular reaction, causing Flowey to scowl at his human companion. Harry simply shrugged at him.

"What? it's funny. Anyway, I don't think at this point we have much to be worried about from him. I'm more worried about getting out of this clearing."

As if on cue, the beast's head snapped up and turned to the treeline. As the other two froze, it quickly bounded off into the woods for a moment and the two heard a screech and rustling, then silence. Neither Harry nor Asriel wanted to move, completely unsure as to what was happening, until the wolf came trotting out of the brush, carrying a surprisingly large, clearly dead hare in his jaws. As the others looked on, the wolf laid back down in his place on the other side of the fire, and began to rip at the meat in his paws, chewing loudly enough to make both wizard and flower slightly ill.

"Ugh. Well, at least that means we likely won't starve if we're stuck here for a while" Harry said. "Wonder if the animals are stuck here, or if it's just us?"

As if on cue, drifting on the wind, they heard a noise. Indistinct at first, Harry began to pick out the noises as they slowly became clear. Asriel noticed them too, apparently.

"Sounds like we're about to find out. What is that exactly?" Harry listened for a bit and frowned.

"... Sounds like... Pink Floyd." Then he grimaced as the tone became rather grating. "Very off-key Pink Floyd."

The rustling through the underbrush, and the off-key singing grew louder, and Harry grabbed his staff, arms tensed and ready to cast... something, likely, though he was unsure as to what, as there were few defensive spells available to him that couldn't be countered by an adult wizard. Asriel, as well, grabbed a rock in one of his vines, and prepared to strike. The wolf, though he turned his ears towards the sound, didn't look up from chewing the remains of his breakfast. After a moment, the source of the sound revealed itself as a young man, clearly lost in his own world, weaved his way through the brush into the clearing. Turning around to brush some leaves off of his pants, he looked up, and Harry and the stranger locked eyes for a moment, both blinked for a moment, before the stranger let out a rather surprised, and apparently pleased sounding, "oh!". Harry immediately tensed, his experience with meeting strange people in new places having been often negative. The man didn't appear to be any sort of wizard Harry had seen before, at least. Instead of the typical wizard robes or mismatched muggle mess, the man wore what appeared to be fairly normal, if rugged, muggle clothing, and wore a shoulder pack that looked like a standard backpackers rucksack. The man pulled the headphones out of his ears and smiled.

"Well, isn't this a surprise? It's been a long time since someone has actually found their way here, couple of years at least." Looking down at Asriel, who was clearly confused and annoyed, and the Grim, who clearly didn't care much either way, his smile grew "...and it's been even longer since someone has arrived with such... interesting company. A Grim and an Earth Spirit? Such interesting friends for a kid." Harry floundered for a response to this, but Asriel quickly beat him to it.

"Oh, no way, that overgrown pair of slippers is not with us!" The stranger cocked his head to the side in surprise, turning to Asriel with a raised eyebrow. He then turned to the side, and Harry followed his gaze to find the Grim had finished his dinner and had moved to sit quietly beside him. Harry jumped in surprise, but the grim just looked at him, then turned to the stranger as he laughed.

"You might want to tell him that, it seems he's rather taken with you."

"Oh, no! Absolutely not! I hate dogs. Hate them. Harry, tell him that... thing is just out to eat us!" Harry opened his mouth to reply, but then frowned for a moment.

"I don't know, Asriel, it hasn't been aggressive yet, and... it seems to be okay enough." he turned to look at the grim, who just looked back, tongue hanging out of the side of its mouth. "Honestly, I've just got a hunch he's okay." Then he smirked at Asriel. "And under any circumstances, I may just keep him around if he annoys you that much."

Asriel scowled at Harry, and started to argue back, but thinking better of it after a moment. Instead he turned to the much easier target, who had set his rucksack down in front of him and had seated himself on a log. "And what exactly do you know about this dog, eh?" He raised himself up so he could look down on the seated man, and made himself about as intimidating as a flower could be, without calling up his more dangerous powers. "Who exactly are you, and why did you trap us here, huh? What do you want?"

The stranger reared back with his hands up in surrender, surprised at the aggressive tone Asriel was clearly taking, but after a moment furrowed his brow in confusion. "Wait... you aren't... you haven't..." He looked from Harry to Asriel, and to the Grim. "Odd. If you didn't know to come here... tell me, how exactly did you get to Casper's Grove?"

Harry looking around, replied "Well, honestly, sir, we... don't really know how we came here. My... um... " he looked over at Flowey for a moment. "friend... and I, we were actually out for a bit of a... um.. camping trip." Harry had to wince at his rather lame attempt at a lie. Flowey just rolled his eyes, while the stranger simply raised an eyebrow. "We, well, we camped out here in this clearing two nights ago, planning to make our way out of the forest this morning, but we seem to be... stuck?" He glanced at the Grim, laid down beside him. "The Grim is... a new addition, he just seemed to want to... come around for a visit last night. Gave us a bit of a scare, honestly, with everything else happening."

The stranger nodded for a moment. "Hm. Well first, you don't have to worry about that, this place is sort of a safe zone. Though you may not be able to leave for now, you certainly don't need to worry about being hurt by anything. Some forewarning, though, it is likely that the reason that you were even able to enter this grove in the first place is that there is either something Gaia needs you tell you, or give to you, so expect things to get... interesting later." Harry, of course, hearing these words, felt the familiar sinking feeling that seemed to creep into him anytime he heard things that likely shouldn't be bad for him. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, though barely.

"But that's later," the man continued with a smile. "The first thing's first, introductions!" He stood up and picked up his walking staff, holding himself tall and would have looked rather formal if it wasn't for his cargo shorts and headphones. "Hello and good afternoon, fellow traveller and new seeker. I am known as Casper, Druid of the Isle, chosen of this grove as it's protector and maintainer." He paused for a moment, then rolled his eyes. "Really, my name is David Goodwin, perpetual backpacker, accidental Druid, and part time small business tech support contractor" he finished with a snicker.

Harry smiled at Casper, or David, he wasn't sure which one to call "I'm Harry Potter... um... " he searched in his head for anything else he could give to the man. "... student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, soon to be third form, first time backpacker... and... um... apparently terrible navigator?" He finished lamely, much to druid's apparent amusement. Harry surreptitiously glanced over at his other companion, who rolled his eyes, whether in fond amusement or annoyance Harry couldn't tell, and gave the tall man his typical wink.

"And I'm Flowey! Nice ta meetcha!" he then broke character and turned on the two humans with a glare. "There! Introductions over! Now can someone tell me what the heck is going on here?" Harry corrected his previous thought; Asriel was definitely annoyed. He frowned at his friend, but Casper seemed to take it in stride, laughing heartily.

"Oh this is fun! Not only are you new to Gaia's blessing, but a wizard as well? This will really be fun!" Casper wandered around the unlit campfire, settling himself down near the Grim, who sniffed at the man for a moment, then settled back down into the same relaxed sit he had been in the entire morning. "The answer to your question, though, little Flowey, is a bit complicated, and it involves history, not my best subject if I'm being honest... However, I can give you a bit of good news, you should be able to leave this clearing easily enough come sunrise tomorrow, at least assuming the gathering is completed as expected tonight." he then frowned to himself. "And I really hope it does, to be honest, I scheduled a networking job at a primary school in the city tomorrow." Shaking his head, he continued, "Until then, how about a meal? At least one of the three of you don't look like you've eaten in awhile," he nodded at Harry, "and while I'm fairly certain that you don't eat food, Flowey, was it? I have to assume that at the very least you would like some time to relax and recuperate, since it seems you've had a trying night."

Flowey just looked at the tall man for a moment, glanced sideways at Harry, then rolled his eyes with a sigh. "I still don't like any of you. Especially you." He said, glaring at the Grim. But he didn't argue anymore, instead disappearing into the ground and reappearing a few yards away from them, closer to the center of the clearing in the sunlight. He basked in the late morning sunlight, keeping an ear turned back towards the group, carefully listening in on the two humans as they continued to converse.

Harry rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. "Sorry about him. He's really a lot nicer once you get to know him." Casper merely chuckled and set down his pack, pulling out some cooking supplies.

As he set up the supplies and started on cooking up food, he said "I can understand. Both of you seem to be in a fairly new situation. You go to Hogwarts then?" Harry nodded. "I've known a few people who went there. Mostly newly gifted families, of course, most of your kind are rather secretive. Had one suggest they needed to have my brain scrambled, thought I wasn't gifted since I didn't have one of your wands." he scoffed. "The one problem with some people, always thinking too narrow minded." Harry couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Can't argue about that. I've only known about magic for two years, but I've already seen enough narrow minded people to last me the rest of my life."

Casper smiled back at that, sitting down and pulling out a camping stove from his sack, he settled in to cook some packaged food. "Now, Harry, as I was saying before, what you accidentally happened to stumble upon here in this grove is... well it's basically a sort of... magic upwelling. Basically magic from the earth builds up and releases in particular places at certain times."

Harry thought back to his Hogwarts classes. "I remember them mentioning things like... Ley lines in school. Is that what this is?" Casper just shook his head.

"Not really. I mean, yes it's connected to the ley lines, but it's a bit more complicated than that. Maybe it's best if I just tell it to you from the beginning..."

==oo00**00oo==

_Long ago, before most of currently recorded history, that which is known as Magic was birthed. Brought up from the wellspring of the earth, the energy of the world itself, gathered from the raw material of the cosmos combined with the energy collected from a near infinite number of living beings over the millennia. No one knows exactly what happened to cause such an explosion of energy, even now with all of our discoveries, magical or otherwise, but we are well aware of it's effects. Vast columns of magic rose from the Great Mother and dispersed into the atmosphere, the great cloud of energy settling around the globe. It was this that spurned the building of great monuments to magic and nature; stonehenge was said to be a memorial to the great catalyst built by unaware tribes who happened to be in the right place at the right time. It has even been surmised, though never proven, that Atlantis itself fell in the wake of the great catalyst, the city and it's inhabitants swallowed by the great mother herself as Magic was birthed._

_After a time, the magic itself came to settle on the people in this world in two different ways. The first, in which the magic that settled upon those women who were with child at the time, were known as the Magus. These children found that the Catalyst had given their bodies the ability to generate this magic directly as an extension of their soul. Harnessing that magic would often be tied to the will of the magic user, and in the early days truly gifted individuals would be able to manifest their wills in almost a literal sense, the magic inside them instinctually harnessed. In some places, these early, powerful magic users were considered gods, and it has been said that many of the legends of deities passed down from ancient times were nothing more than early generation magus, whose stories became more and more embellished over the generations. Of course, the Magus continued to grow and expand their knowledge of this power, and began to devise ways to harness it, the first wands and staves coming shortly thereafter. Over the generations, enterprising cultures found ways to mold and shape that energy from raw expressions of power to the magic that wizards use today. That wasn't the only tale to tell in the story though._

_Some of the power, however, returned back to the earth instead of settling on it's inhabitants, settling into the ley lines and converging on the sources of the initial outlet like a magnet. This energy took on a life of it's own, and created what is known as the Mother's Will. For some of our ancestors, the earth itself would call for them, and if they heard and answered, Gaia and her children would bless them with the power to see and understand the magic that flows through the earth itself. Those that were chosen as stewards of Gaia's gift became known generally as the Druids. Mother's Will, however, was not particularly picky, either, and it was not just Humans who received that gift. In fact, most of the magical creatures known today are direct descendants of various species of animals that earned Gaia's favor in those early days, even if many of them aren't aware of their heritage, the gifts still remain, ingrained in their very being._

==oo00**00oo==

Harry frowned as Casper paused in his story to get the stew he was cooking into a pair of bowls for the two of them. "But... if that's the case, if we all came from the same magic, why don't wizards know about you? I mean, none of this stuff is taught to us in school."

Casper chuckled as he sat down to eat, throwing the stock bone to the Grim, who quickly began to gnaw on it with a pleased expression. "Well, I'm not completely sure as to why, was never really into the history side of things. From what I know, sometime back a couple of centuries ago, some sort of war broke out. Magus ended up fighting against druids over a few things, likely just standard prejudices, if the older people I've met from both sides are any indication. There was also something about a king getting pissed about magic users scaring the subjects or something, and sending a bunch of Mancers out. Under any circumstances, point was at the end of it, the Magus chose to drop into hiding, and the druids were mostly dead." He shrugged his shoulders "honestly, there's probably more there, but I don't know a lot of that. Remind me to give you some contact info on the way out tomorrow, I know a few other druids who are more into history. One's a librarian even." Harry nodded. Hearing a shuffle of leaves beside him, he turned to find Asriel had settled himself next to the fire, looking into it confusedly.

"You said something about Mancers. What are those?" he asked after a moment, to which Casper's smile widened.

"Now that is something that I can tell you about-" he began, but suddenly paused. He looked up, as the setting sun started to give way to the evening starlight. The Grim as well stood and looked up towards the center of the clearing. "But not now - it seems it's about time for the show to start. Lets finish up with this story later." Harry was about to ask what was happening when he sensed, rather than saw, a buildup of... something coming from the center of the clearing. Standing and grabbing his staff he stepped forward towards where Asriel and Casper were standing, tensing for a moment, but waiting as Casper waved him down. "Don't worry, Harry. This is all going as it's supposed to go. Oh, and don't look her in the eyes, you'll end up getting a bit of a headache in the morning."

Harry was about to reply to that particular remark when the cascade of energy seemed to reach a zenith, and they watched as the moonlight above seemed to coalesce into a glowing energy, shining down in the center of the grove. The earth itself in the clearing seemed to waver and shift, as though it was the sea in a storm. Wondering if this was perhaps some hallucination, he glanced to his side, only to find both Asriel and Casper transfixed by the sight as well. He watched as the light itself seemed to form into an energy, coalescing into a form of some sort, revealing a figure. Harry found himself both transfixed and terrified of the figure, his mind reeling.

The figure was... literally indescribable to Harry, constantly shifting shapes and forms. He thought it might have been humanoid, but then again it might not have been. But more than what he saw... what he felt was even more indescribable. Currents and flows of energy, sounds like whispers on the edge of hearing, speaking secrets known to no one, and truths known to everyone. Harry found himself almost dizzy, squeezing his eyes shut tightly for a moment, and looking down, up, anywhere away from the beautiful and terrible thing in front of him. He felt all at once that what was in front of him was both the most devastating thing that could be found on the face of the earth, and the one possible thing that could spare it from an eternity of pain. His breath came in short gasps, his ears ringing and his skin both numb and highly sensitive. Vaguely, he recognized that both Casper and Asriel were talking to him, speaking in tones that might have been concerned, but for now, nothing could overcome the overwhelming nature of the presence before him. The figure approached the group, and the sensations only grew. As the figure came within a few feet of them, Harry could only focus on simply staying alive, staying himself, as the presence of nature, life, death, of Magic Itself seemed to lean towards him. He felt like it took every piece of willpower he had not to die... not to simply un-become... not to explode into a thousand pieces of magic and scatter to the winds. The presence was all he could know, and it was all he was, at least at that moment...

"Hello, child of my eyes." It spoke, and something in Harry twitched. That sound, that voice, where had he heard it before? Was it his mother's voice? His father's? He needed to know, to see. Everything in him wanted to understand what he was seeing and hearing, impossible as that may be. His head snapped up, and he saw the power's eyes and-

==oo00**00oo==

**Up next, we've heard from a few groups, but what about another we haven't heard from yet?**

_It was simple enough, really. He would understand if she just wanted to separate from the group, simply become an acquaintance. There wouldn't even be any bad feelings, she didn't think he would even have that capability really. The heartbreak she would feel would be a cakewalk, compared to the alternative really. Trouble and Fear and Bad Things followed at Harry Potter's heels, and that would continue, and anyone with him would be caught up in it. Only an idiot would think otherwise, and Hermione Granger most certainly was not an idiot._


	16. Interlude: Reflections on a Friendship and the Future

Disclaimers disclaimed

**Ao3 Pre A/N: This is the last chapter of the great migration from FFN to here. Im hoping updates will continue, but certainly not at the rate you saw up until now. Hope you all enjoy what I've written so far, and stick around if you feel like it!**

**Pre A/N: So, here we are. I've corrected for basic grammar and spelling, but not much, because I was afraid I wouldn't post it if I did. Again. The time for not liking the chapter is over. The time for moving on is here.**

==oo00**00oo==

With a gasp, she shot up from her bed, eyes wide and hands shaking, her breath coming in gasps as though she had just run a marathon. Her eyes darted back and forth randomly for a moment, until her sleep clouded vision began to sharpen into focus, and she remembered where she was. With a significant amount of effort, she calmed her breathing, and her heart rate gradually started to slow in turn. Turning her head to look at the clock on the tiny bedside table, she sighed. Of course, not early enough to make it worth trying to sleep, but not late enough to feel like it was a full night. Lifting from her half sitting pose on her bed, she sat up and folded her legs under her, straightened her back and closed her eyes. As the sun slowly began to rise, painting the inside of her guest room with a golden light, Hermione Granger began to meditate.

In the days and weeks after awakening from the long sleep that was her petrification at the hands of Tom Riddle via Ginny, Hermione actually got very little sleep in total. She would often find her body disobeying her, maladjusted after being still for so long, even with magic to sustain it. Muscles unused for weeks left in a state of semi-atrophy, her movements felt sluggish and disconnected. Her mind, on the other hand, reacted the opposite way, turning erratic, hyper-focused yet jumbled; she would attempt to sleep in the evenings and found her mind unable to rest but her body unable to cooperate.

She attributed this, of course, to the (somewhat terrifying to her even now) fact that she was awake and aware during the entire ordeal. Or, at least, somewhat. She remembered being petrified, remembered seeing the cold eyes of the serpent but being unable to follow them as they moved away, and then very little until she was being levitated to the infirmary. She remembered waking up shortly up after that, and then the panic and fear. For what felt like hours, she remembered staring up at the ceiling, hand stretched out and half visible to her unmoving eyes, the mirror since removed. She remembered everything sounding and feeling muffled, as though through layers of blankets. She remembered trying to scream, trying to breathe, trying to do anything other than stare forever at the same ceiling. She remembered hearing muffled sounds from around her, petrification in her eardrums meaning all sounds were felt more than heard. She had no clue how long she was there, staring up at nothing, but she knew it had to have been hours, before something else swam into her vision. She tried to turn her gaze to focus on the face situated above her in vain, her eyes just as frozen as the rest of her. She didn't need to focus on the face in front of her to know who it was looking down, though. Harry Potter had come to visit her. The blurry sight of this particular young wizard brought forward a great number of very conflicting emotions in the young witch; relief, fear, rage, joy - all warring in a body that could do nothing more than stare eternally forward, forever focused on the middle distance in front of her. She wanted to leap out of bed, warn her friend of the impending danger, rage at him for putting her in this place, hug him for coming to visit her - she honestly wasn't sure what exactly she would have done at that moment had she been freed from her bonds.

She remembered the near unbearable panic from those moments, the overwhelming terror that comes from being trapped and she probably would have gone mad in that moment had not one sound, muddled and distant as it was, broke through the haze of madness that threatened her mind.

" _Chapter Nineteen - Levitating versus Summoning and Banishing. The principal differences between the summoning and banishing charms being negligible, the next question that one might ask is how those two compare to yet another object control spell category, levitation. Though both..."_

Harry was reading to him.

Harry was reading the day's assignments to him.

That was... actually oddly silly when she thought about it, here she is, paralyzed but aware, in what was, by a wide margin, the most dire situation she had ever really been in over the course of her life, and here he was just reading off the day's assignment like it was nothing. It made her happier than she felt she had any right to be. He knew her very well, it seemed. The best kind of friend. Even if she had already read that chapter months ago.

The days and weeks after that first session seemed to be a large blur in her mind after that particular moment, she assumed due to some sort of defence mechanism, which she was very glad for. She would remember snippets of the ceiling of the infirmary, blurs of the Matron doing her checkups, and occasionally Harry reading off the lessons of the day, or just talking about nothing.

When the time finally came for the mandrake harvest and the subsequent revivals of the petrified students, Hermione found herself thinking first and foremost (after an almost immediate need to use the restroom and brush her teeth) of Harry. It was with far more difficulty than usual that she remained polite and cooperative with the matron, lasting through nearly fourty-five minutes of diagnostics before politely being asked to be excused to the great hall. The matron looked at her, rather surprised it seemed, before shaking her head slightly and noting that it would actually be best for everyone involved to 'attempt to return to normalcy as quickly as possible'. And so she did, at least on the outside. Oh she greeted her friends, and smiled and appeared outwardly like she was okay and happy, and she was genuinely happy. But she most certainly was not okay, there was no way she could be okay after all that. She held up the act for the last few weeks of term, though it was painful, she even held up for the train ride home, the hugs goodbye, and even the walk from the platform to her parents car. They hadn't gone more than a block from the station, however, before she had curled up in her father's lap in the back seat of the car, shaking in long held fear and despair, as her father held her tightly, whispering soothing words. It wasn't long before her parents had heard most of the true story of her second year.

When Hermione and her parents originally decided that she should go to Hogwarts, they had taken the opportunity to do their research - looking into how the magical world functioned, it's rules, culture and it's expectations. Her parents were less than pleased at how things appeared to work in the magical world, but it was painfully obvious that they had little choice in the matter - Hermione needed to be trained in magic. That didn't mean they couldn't prepare, however, so they did. An agreement was made between parents and daughter, code phrases established, mandates on things to write in letters versus discussed later were issued. The troll from the first year was a shock to the young girl's system certainly, but conversations that they had over that winter holiday gave all three of them a sense of purpose, and proof positive that they needed to be smarter. The events of her second year were no exception.

It took them the rest of that evening to decide how to proceed. Hermione was secretly relieved that there was never any discussion about pulling her out of the magical world, though she really didn't think that it would have been. Dan and Jean Granger had a daughter that never backed down when given a difficult intellectual challenge, and they would certainly work to make sure that their daughter could surpass even this hurdle. The point still remains though, that this particular issue might require more than just parents would be able to provide in terms of mental and emotional assistance. Since it had become abundantly clear that the British magical system had no remedy for emotional and mental health, and since the NHS would likely ask far too many questions if they sent her through official channels, they decided to find a place they could go overseas to find proper counseling while maintaining a bit of anonymity. It took her parents three weeks to find a program, and two trips into Diagon Alley to do enough research to confirm that there wouldn't be any magical oversight, but a plan was created. A month into the summer holiday, Hermione found herself on a three week retreat a couple hours outside of New York City while her parents attended a series of dental conferences. It was a retreat that, though it meant that she had to spend even more time away from her parents, she knew she desperately needed. She and her parents had crafted a story about an injury related to a bullying incident causing a three week coma that she was to use during her time there - it was close enough to the truth to make it easy to discuss without having the therapy become ineffectual. It was also working, and allowed her to work through things in her head.

As she felt the sun shine on her face through the window, she sighed and stood. It wasn't just her experiences that had been keeping her from getting a good night's sleep. It was the last day's meeting with her councilor that weighed on her mind. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts momentarily, she took the time to prepare for her morning, and since it was about an hour before breakfast, left the residence building she was staying at to walk to the main building across the lawn.

The corner of the library was now quite familiar to her. Over the last two weeks she had more or less marked this particular chair by the window as her own, and spent nearly every afternoon curled up here with some new book. She wished that she could just do the same now, just grab a new piece of fiction and ignore the choice that she had in front of her. But she knew, for Harry's sake, and for her own, she just couldn't do it. She stepped forward. She didn't take a book from the shelf.

She sat down at the chair. Her mind came back to the meeting the day before. She had been spending the session talking about her friends from school, and had described Ronald and Harry as vaguely as possible while trying to portray who they were. After telling some rather sanitized versions of her adventures with her two best friends, the doctor had suggested that she might need to think about re-evaluating her friendship with the two of them. She hadn't taken to it very well...

==oo00**00oo==

_She stood from her place on the couch, nostrils flaring glaring at him. "I can't just abandon Harry like that, he's my friend! He has been my friend for the last two years, when no-one else would be!"_

_The doctor shook his head "I'm certainly not saying you need to abandon him. From what you've told me about him and Ronald, they are good friends, and good people. But people do live different lives. I will occasionally counsel adults in relationships with people in law enforcement or military - it's a fairly common thing for partners or family to come here with fears or trauma when someone close to them is injured in the line of duty. I think the same thing I tell them applies to you, if in a more reduced way." He leaned forward in his chair. "It takes a certain person to be okay with being connected to someone who is often in danger. They accept the risks of doing what they do every day, and in the same way you will need to. If you feel like this friendship is worth that risk, then take that risk. You wouldn't be a lesser person for stepping aside though, and if Harry is half the person you describe him to be, he would completely understand if you told him you weren't ready to take on that risk. I believe I am correct in assuming you haven't taken the time to really consider these sorts of things"_

_Hermione's glare turned into a frown, and she turned to look out the window "... no."_

" _I would be surprised if you had. You are clearly a brilliant young woman, Hermione, but this sort of introspection comes from experience rather than knowledge. Unfortunately, young people sometimes get put in places where they have to make decisions above their pay grade, so to speak. What I am here to do, is to give you what context I can to make sure that you can make this decision for yourself, while as informed as possible._

==oo00**00oo==

With a sigh, she looked out across the gardens towards the river, and pondered her choices. It was simple enough, really. He would understand if she just wanted to separate from the group, simply become an acquaintance. There wouldn't even be any bad feelings, she didn't think he would even have that capability really. The heartbreak she would feel would be a cakewalk, compared to the alternative really. Trouble and Fear and Bad Things followed at Harry Potter's heels, and that would continue, and anyone with him would be caught up in it. Only an idiot would think otherwise, and Hermione Granger most certainly was not an idiot. The question wasn't the process or the results though, the question was the desire. Her instincts initially raged at that thought, of course she desired to be there with him, with Ron, with whoever else they happened to collect in the future. But she knew that instincts just weren't enough anymore. She needed to think, to make sure, for her own sake especially, that she really wanted to commit to this future. She knew, in her heart, that what she decided here in this chair would mark the course for her life for the forseable future, and it wasn't a course she could correct easily, choosing to stand by her friends would mean heading her little life into a maelstrom that she likely wouldn't be able to extract herself from. It would mean fighting to keep what she had in a way she likely hadn't before. The doctor unknowingly hit rather close to the mark in that conversation - but she wouldn't just be close to someone in danger, if she committed to this, she would likely be in danger right next to Harry and Ron. It really wasn't hard to know where her friendship with them was going.

The question was, was the journey, and the destination, something that she wanted for herself...

==oo00**00oo==

"You seem much more centered today, Miss Granger" the doctor noted as they sat down for their afternoon session. He smiled at her inquisitive look. "I was watching you during the group activities this morning. You no longer have the look of a sailor adrift. I assume, then, that you've made some decisions?"

Hermione simply nodded. "I... I know that it will be work, not necessarily to maintain the friendship, but simply to be in his vicinity. But... I like how things are going. I like who I am, who he is. If it takes effort to maintain that friendship, it's worth it, for the good he does, that I can do with his help."

The doctor's grin grew into a smile, he uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. "That shows a level of commitment and perseverance that I rarely see in adults, much less people your age. I have to commend you for your attitude." He then leaned back, and steepled his hands. "Now, I am going to actually do something a bit unexpected. We're only about half way through this session, but I feel like you actually have improved enough over the last two days that I want to shift approaches starting tomorrow. So for the rest of the day, I think you deserve a bit of a break. I want you to take the rest of this session to actually go do a bit more reading. Take a walk around the library, maybe find something new this time, however. I know over the last few weeks you've been sticking to the same sections, but I think if you do a bit of a wander around the library you'll find plenty of interesting reading material."

==oo00**00oo==

Mind made up, her footsteps began to pick up more of a bounce as she wandered around the library. Her smile became just a bit more genuine, and her eyes became just a bit more lively. She looked through the shelves that she had walked through so many times, looking for a new bit of reading to catch her eye, and rounded a corner to find...

Huh...

Well this wasn't here before.

Hermione looked at the shelves, far more weathered and dusty than the rest of the library, and realized that she hadn't been to this section of the library before, and indeed she hadn't even noticed it up until now. She turned around to look out from where she had entered this new section, to find she had entered in a place where she was absolutely sure there was a shelf of books on tax code before. Her mind took a moment to process that - likely some sort of notice-me-not charm? But if it was just designed to keep muggles out, she would have known this was here ages ago, so designed for some other reason...

After mulling on it for a moment, she stopped. Normally a puzzle like this would be something she would mull over - should she have even been able to enter, should she be looking at the books, et cetera. However, with a smile to herself, she decided that, perhaps, that was a question for another time, and perhaps she shouldn't always look gift horses in the mouth. Clearly Harry was rubbing off on her more than she had anticipated. And perhaps it was time to start making things easier by working harder, as contradictory it sounded.

Running her hands along the dusty shelves, she did a lap around the rather small room, looking at titles, cataloging them in her mind for later review. It was a rather small section, holding maybe a hundred books at the most, carefully lain upon the shelves on display, as though they were delicate first editions - and indeed it looked likely that some of them were. And the titles! Hermione was inwardly giddy at the thought of such interesting knowledge, perhaps two thirds of the titles were things that were certainly not in the Hogwarts library, nor in the Flourish and Blotts catalog. Half of them weren't even on subjects she recognized. Having done a full circle, she paused for a moment, considering, then turned to the far wall, and a set of three books on a single shelf there. Considering the book in front of her, she smiled.

"Never heard of this before. This should be interesting."

Taking the copy of _Understanding Mancery: Science, Magic and You_ from the shelf, she laid it out on the small reading desk in the center of the room, sat down in the chair (after thoroughly wiping off all the dust) and began to read.

==oo00**00oo==

**A/N: This chapter was so hard it took me three years to write. It's still honestly the worst chapter I have written IMO. But I keep going back to it and leaving it and going back to it and editing it and it was never what I wanted. Then I would get distracted and things would end up back on the back burner. If I still want to write this... and I really do.. i just need to do it. Now that I've at least started to establish Hermione the way that I want... _ish_ , maybe we can continue. I have many more ideas laid out for this though, so let's see how it goes!**

**Next Episode will be back to business for our migratory friends**

" _Harry?"_

" _Yeah, Az?"_

" _Is all wizard architecture this..."_

" _Yeah basically."_

" _Why?"_

" _Honestly, I never thought to ask."_

" _I guess, after seeing the hats, I probably wouldn't ask either."_


	17. A Walk Along A Riverside

Chapter 17 - A walk along a riverside.

==oo00**00oo==

It was a slow thing in this particular moment, waking. It started with a vague awareness of movement, the low rumble of a moving vehicle as it passed along the roadside. The sound of the radio, a bit too low to hear anything of detail but loud enough to drift to his ears over the sound of the air conditioner. A thunk and a scrape from another direction noting that there was something across the car from him. The warmth of the sun shining through a window. Taking a deep breath that almost certainly wasn't any sort of yawn, Harry could smell the fumes from the vehicle, the smell of tobacco, and the mild aroma of sunflower that he had come to know as Asriel’s unique scent. Somewhere in his mind he considered it odd that he was being rather relaxed about the situation, especially considering he had no idea how he ended up in a vehicle. The rest of his mind overruled this train of thought however -- it had been a rather ridiculous couple of weeks, he deserved a break. Taking another breath, Harry slowly opened his eyes and stretched. 

He was right about the car it seemed. Harry found himself stuck in the back seat of a pickup truck cab, compressed against the seat in front of him and the back window. He noticed his pack rattling around in the covered truck bed, along with a bunch of boxes filled with wires and cables. Across the car from him Asriel was in the other seat, the back of his sunflower head facing him as he looked at the scenery passing by through the window. Looking to his right, he noticed the druid from the grove in the drivers’ seat, glancing at him through the rear view. When their eyes met, he smiled.

“Ah, you’re finally awake. Fantastic!” Harry turned towards the front of the car to see Casper smiling at him from the rear view mirror. “We’re just a few minutes from where I’m going to have to drop you off, and I was worried I’d have to wake you. Sleeping like a baby, you were”

Harry shrugged “Honestly, Casper, I haven’t felt this rested in ages.” He nodded at Asriel, who had been looking at him with some concern. After seeing that, he merely rolled his eyes and turned around to look out the window again. 

“Ugh, don’t call me Casper outside of the grove, just Dave works. I feel like my old mentor when people call me that. The name’s hereditary, given to the guardian of the grove and whatever of Gaia happens to be in the neighborhood. Speaking of which, let me go through a few things quick, since we don't have a lot of time before I have to drop you off. Now, you’re obviously feeling well rested right?” at Harry’s confirmation he smiled. “Good. That means her blessing took. You’ll probably feel a bit giddy for the next few days, do yourself a favor and take a few walks through the woods while you’re feeling it. Almost guaranteed to have some new friends by the time you leave if you do.” Harry didn't know what to say to that exactly, so he just moved to the next question he had on his mind.

“What... um... exactly happened? Last night, I mean.” Asriel turned quickly in his direction and stared hard at Harry

“You don't remember?” At Harry’s shrug he frowned. “What was the last thing you do remember?”

Harry thought back, and was hard pressed to find anything in his mind relating to the night before. “Not much. I... remember looking into her eyes, then... nothing really. It's all a fog.”

Asriel tilted his head at that, while Dave just scoffed. “You warn them, and they still look. It's like the old man said. Don’t worry too much about that, It’s common for anyone’s first experience around an Emissary to be a bit off. You’ll probably start remembering more and more of the night as time passes. Gaia’s magic tends to give your brain the jumpstart it needs when you need it. Don’t push it though, thinking too hard about it will just give you a headache even if you do remember all of it, trust me.”

Asriel turned towards Dave “Emissary?”

“That spirit was of the grove yeah, but it's also a part of Gaia as a whole. Without getting too technical, basically that's a piece of the whole you were chatting with last night. There are points all over the world where spirits like her still show up, on their own, but still part of the whole. It's why our job as Druids is still around, even if we don't do the whole druid ceremony in public anymore. We keep the groves hidden and protected, let Gaia do her work, planet keeps on spinning. Like a public service, cleaning the parks and all that.” He grinned “Cool side bonus - being all about saving the planet makes for good opening conversations at the pub.” Dave turned off the main road and started driving into the countryside, cards and buildings making way to houses and suburbs, and quickly to open fields.

“Anyways, I’m telling you this because, whether you remember it or not, the job was offered to you as well.” Harry blinked at that.

“What do you mean?” Dave shrugged

“Just that by being able to make it into the Grove, and being able to look into the eyes of an Emissary, you do have what it takes to learn the ropes of being a Druid. I know you’ve got the whole wizard thing going for you to, but I will say it never hurts to read up on other things.”

David turned the vehicle onto a dirt path, driving for a few moments until he came to a stop by a river. Parking the car and turning it off, he turned around.

“Alright, unfortunately my time is short, so I’m going to have to leave you with that little tidbit. Come on, let’s get you and your stuff out and get you moving with your little pilgrimage, eh?”

Harry and Asriel shared a look, and Asriel did as good of an impression of a shrug as a flower could do, so Harry grabbed onto the burlap sack Asriel was currently situated in and climbed out of the truck, following Dave around to the back. With a click, Dave opened up the back, and the first thing Harry noticed was his pack, looking a bit more full than it was before. He also noticed laying up against his pack a rather large, angry looking hammer. He reached out to his pack, and hesitated a moment. Dave turned towards him in confusion and then laughed. 

“Ah, yeah that's just Betty. Don’t worry ‘bout her, she’s just around to keep things from getting out of hand. Surprisingly busy thing, being a druid, even as a night job. You’d be surprised the things you have to deal with.”

Harry grabbed his pack and hauled it out of the car, doing his level best not to look at the suspiciously rust colored head of the hammer as he did so. Seemingly oblivious, Dave continued.

“Now, I added a few books to your bag, just the basics on stuff you probably don’t get in your own school. When you have some spare time, give ‘em a read.” after pausing for a moment, he continued “oh! and here, take this too” he reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a business card, handing it to Harry. “This has my number on it, you can reach me if you have any questions or whatever. Now, I can’t actually get you directly to your magic friends, still some old rules about that, but if you follow this river up at a walk, you should be able to find a little magic haven by around lunchtime.” He gave Harry a slap on the shoulder, knocking the distracted boy almost over on the ground. He then stood up and walked back to the car, getting in and hitting the engine. He leaned out the window as he shifted the car into gear and pulled away. “By the way, your friend wasn’t feeling the car ride, wandered off into the woods. My guess is he’ll find you later! Nice meeting you, mate! Hope to hear from you soon!’

And with that, Dave had driven up the road and disappeared, leaving Harry standing there, his pack on the ground, and Asriel next to him.

“Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“What the hell just happened?”

Harry sighed and hoisted his bag up on his shoulders. “Honestly, I have no idea. But the good news is, I think I know what is going to happen next.” he said looking up at the sign posted by the road on the other side of the river.

. **Ottery St. Catchpole 12km**

==oo00**00oo==

The next hour was spent in quiet conversation between the unusual pair as they walked along the riverbank, the worn grass of a nature walk slowly turning into a trod dirt path, then to a gravel walking trail. Though the side of the river they were on had nothing but open fields and woodlands, the other side of the river began to show signs of civilization, from a farmstead or two at first, up to a small community of buildings. Harry enjoyed the walk as it was happening, but it wasn't until they got nearer to the bridge in the distance that Harry began to realize something seemed... off about what he was seeing. It took him nearly ten minutes of wondering silently to himself before Asriel, unknowingly, provided the answer to him.

“Hey Harry?”

“Yeah?” he mumbled, paying half attention to the conversation. He was brought up short by Asriel’s question however.

“What’s up with all these ridiculous hats some of these people are wearing?”

Harry blinked, then looked up across the river, and suddenly he began to understand what was off about what he was seeing. He could see that the small town was decidedly normal, with fairly recent buildings mixed in with classic but tasteful architecture, sure, but it was the people that suddenly stood out. Yes, there were plenty of cars and bikes and such, with muggles chatting and sitting and enjoying their drinks. But what was also surprising was the number of witches and wizards also walking around. Folks in robes and hats stood around with folks with cellphones and bike helmets, and the concept nearly astounded Harry. 

“Those... some of those are wizards I think. I mean... I think they’re wizards. I thought that muggles and wizards were separated though, I have never seen so many so close together though.”

Harry had been so focused on the quiet conversation with Asriel that he nearly bumped into a bench, and deftly twirling around said bench, nearly bumped into a man seated on said bench. As he pulled up short Asriel did his best to swing around and sink deeper into Harry’s bag. Harry immediately stammered an apology, looking down and doing his best to appear inconspicuous. The older man smiled.

“No harm done, young man. I often get a touch distracted while out wandering, so far be it from me to criticise another who does the same.” he said with a chuckle. “It is quite a place to get lost in, isn't it?”

Harry awkwardly chuckled, trying his hardest to be as noticeable to this person as possible while still being polite. “Yes sir.” 

The man waved him off immediately with a scoff “Please, no sirs here, call me Xeno. I've certainly not done anything recently worth a knighthood at least. You’re a visitor I assume? Have you been to our little town before?”

“Just once sir, and I didn't see much of the town itself -- I was here visiting friends.” Harry looked out at the scene across the river, just watching as people went about their day. It was odd, seeing wizards and muggles in such close proximity, interacting as though nothing was strange about it. Granted, no one was performing magic publically, but even people being that close was a unique experience to him.

“Ah, then you haven't seen this before. Doubly obvious that you would be distracted then. You were raised by muggles I assume, probably closer to the city am I right?” Harry was surprised by that, and turned towards the man. He grinned “I pride myself on my observational skills. One of the few things I can take pride in.” He turned back towards the scene across the river. “Tell me, what do you see when you look over there?”

Harry followed his gaze to the people, wizards and muggles, mingling without a care in the world. “Im... honestly not sure what I’m looking at.” The man laughed at that.

“It seems even more fantastical to those of us who are older, believe me. It's really not that much, simply a ward around the district to distract muggles from what the wizards are wearing, and some rather stringent rules around wands. But the implications are far greater than shared coffee on a patio.”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked. He felt Asriel shift in his bag to try and listen to the conversation as well.

“Well think about it. For hundreds of years, the magical governments of the world have been so concerned about the consequences of the muggles finding out about magic that they have prevented interaction almost completely; if not by outright law, then by social norms. It was unheard of for anyone to even think that any form of interaction was anything but disaster.”

Harry frowned, and looked over to find muggles and wizards interacting with the muggles none the wiser. ”But it seems like this is anything but disaster. The wizards are fine out in public here. But they can do that anywhere, right?”

The man’s smile grew “Oh that's true, but this is so much more than that. When a wizard goes out in public in, say, London, they’re barely glanced at, but when muggles see them..” he looks at Harry expectantly... and Harry suddenly understood.

“... they’re just looked at as... out of place people. Strange outfits, probably crazy. But,” he turned back to the old man. “These people, they’re talking with each other like--”

The man quickly interrupted him with a nod “--like there aren't any different. And all it took was a muggleborn on the city council, and a few families with some knowledge of warding, working together. An interesting thought, yes?”

Harry felt a bit rocked by this particular thought indeed. But before he could further unpack his thoughts, the man made to stand “But I’ve taken enough of your time up I think. You should get moving if you want to make it to the Burrow in time for tea.” Harry’s eyes snapped back to the man who merely smiled. “I told you, mister Potter I take great pride in my observational skills. Take the main road from the bridge there away from town, when you see a dirt road leading to a tower, take that road. That’s the Rookery, our family home, and the Weasleys live about ten minutes past that up the road.”

Harry couldn't do anything else but nod. “Thank you sir.” He paused and continued rather awkwardly “I.. um.. I would rather not have--”

“You don't need to worry young man, I won’t tell anyone else you happen to be walking through town. I will ask for two things in return. The first, again, please call me Xeno.” Harry nodded with an apologetic smile. “The second... if you have time before you return to Hogwarts, stop by our home and have a meal with my daughter and I. It is not common anymore for my little moonbeam to speak to others anymore, and I worry she’s going to close herself off to friends... I cannot be everything for her, that isn't right. Even if you couldn't be a friend, at least it would be good for her to speak to someone other than myself during this summer.”

Harry frowned, there was a story there, he assumed, but didn't want to pry, so he simply nodded. “Of course, Xeno. And thanks for the directions.”

Xeno waved him off, and headed into the town. Harry stood there for a few minutes more, just watching him disappear into the small crowd in town before shaking himself off and turning the opposite direction towards his destination. Asriel lifted himself up from his semi-hidden spot in Harry’s bag and leaned over to look at the man’s retreating back. “Are all wizards like that?” Harry frowned.

“Like what?”

“Weird. Really really weird.”

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but hesitated, then sighed. “You know, I would like to say otherwise, but...”

Asriel nodded “yeah I kinda gathered. I can definitely say hanging around you means I won’t be bored at least.”

“Buddy, you aren't kidding” Harry snickered as they walked along the roadside.”

==oo00**00oo==

It wasn't long before things started looking vaguely familiar to Harry as he walked up the dirt path, and up in the distance the mismatched stack of rooms that was the Weasley’s home began to rise up into view. As he climbed the hill that functioned as an overlook to the property, he couldn't help but smile. The house was probably the closest thing he had to a home, aside from Hogwarts. His smile turned a bit sad as he realized standing on that hill that it didn't quite feel the same as it did last year, seeing that house. Not that it didn't feel as welcoming, but rather that it had the feel of an old home, something he had fond memories of, and loved to visit, but really wasn't home anymore. From behind his head he heard Asriel make a noise of disbelief.

“Harry?”

Harry turned his head to meet his friend’s eyes. “Yeah, Az?”

“Is all wizard architecture this...” he waved vaguely at the building. Harry couldn't help but giggle.

“Yeah basically.”

“Why?”

Harry shrugged hopelessly “Honestly, I never thought to ask.”

“I guess, after seeing the hats, I probably wouldn’t ask either.” He snickered. Harry simply shook his head and started walking forward. After a few steps Asriel hesitatingly continued speaking.

“...so... uh, this is where we’re going huh? Meet up with your wizard friends?” Harry nodded. “Cool. So, um... I know we talked about this a bit, but... you sure they’re going to be... okay with me?” The question brought Harry up short. Normally he would just assume everything was fine, but recent events had encouraged him to think a bit more. After hesitating a moment, he continued.

“So... the Weasleys are good people. I have no doubt they would be just fine with you. That being said... yeah there might be some people who would be less than welcoming of Monster in the wizarding world.” Asriel nodded

“Yeah I kinda figured. How do you want to do this then?” Harry turned to him with a smirk.

“What, not just running and hiding?” he asked the flower. Asriel immediately struck the back of Harry’s head with a vine.

“Shut up, just because I’m trying to be less angsty doesn't mean I won’t knock you around if you give me crap.” They both laughed a bit, and Asriel continued “No, what I’m thinking is you might want to do this slow like. You have been gone for a while, and let’s face it, you look a bit beat up after your fall, even if you've pretty much recovered” 

Harry conceded the point. “Alright, yeah. Mrs Weasley does get a bit defensive of kids in danger. How about this, you hang out in the garden over by the side of the house” Harry replied, motioning to the plot of tilled land alongside the home. “I’ll go in and go through the initial meetings, then I’ll come up with a way to introduce you to a few of the family members first, find a way to bring you inside.”

Asriel nodded. “Sounds good. Don't leave me hanging too long though, or I might get bored and find something to distract me.”

Harry laughed “Truly the most dangerous thing in a fifty kilometer radius, a bored goat-sunflower.” As they neared the home, Harry set his pack down and let Asriel off, who dropped into the ground quickly, and popped up just a moment later in a space under an open window. He craned his neck to listen, and then turned to Harry with a nod. 

Harry took a deep breath and stepped up the two stairs on the front stoop, and raised his staff to knock at the door of the Burrow.

==oo00**00oo==

**A/N: So I’m going to try this thing where, rather than write for scenes as I have them blocked out in my head, I’m going to write for two weeks, then edit and post what I have, even if it's short. I’m thinking this may help drive a bit more consistency out of me long term, and maybe we won’t have to do with another gigapause. To all of you who comment and like this, even after all this time, thanks for sticking around, hope you still enjoy what I put up, cause I’m likely gonna keep doing it. Also, I should note that I don't often directly reply to folks who review if you're making guesses on future plotlines (in large part because though I have the major story beats in mind, a lot of the little details are still being written,) but I will reply to questions about past items if you have them, or general questions. To the last guest comment that was three words -- thanks for being my first troll comment, makes me feel all grown up!**

**Coming Up,**

“ _ Harry Potter. You disappeared from your summer residence without informing anyone of your plans or location. You fall out of range of any and all magical detection for weeks on end. Then, you arrive weeks later at the home of a friend hundreds of kilometers from where you were last seen without so much as a forewarning, wearing strange clothes, limping and using a magical staff, your want broken and lost. It appears you have a lot of explaining to do.” _


End file.
